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Origin and history

The church of the Martyre-de-Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Seyches, originally located outside the city walls, was destroyed at the beginning of religious wars. Faced with the strong local Protestant presence, she was moved around 1580 to a town house, with the permission of the bishop of Agen Janus Frigose. Despite repairs in 1666 deemed unsatisfactory, the building remained precarious until its complete reconstruction.

In 1689, Marie de Majance, widow of Baron Jean de Mosnier, financed the reconstruction of the church on a three-nave plan with a flat bedside choir. The building was consecrated on April 9, 1690 by Bishop Jules Mascaron. The building was then home to a painted walled ceiling, described in an episcopal report of 1689, which has now disappeared.

In the 19th century (1880), the church was arched in brick, replacing the original panelling with cross-pieces of warheads supported by caps. This transformation erased part of the original liturgical decoration, leaving only a painting of the Décollation de Saint-Jean-Baptiste, inscribed in the Inventory in 1975. An architectural particularity lies in the absence of a traditional bell tower: an old adjoining town gate was converted for this use.

In the 1930s, the church was the subject of a major decorative campaign. In 1935-1936, the Italian painter Giovanni Masutti made false marbles, draperies and a fresco depicting the decollation of Saint John the Baptist in the choir. At the same time, the stained glass windows of the collaterals were created by the Thomas workshop in Valencia. The building was finally inscribed in the Historical Monuments on November 26, 1998, including the church and its atypical bell tower.

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