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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The church of Notre-Dame de Bourisp, located in the Hautes-Pyrénées in Occitanie, is a building mainly built in the 16th century, although Romanesque elements (like a window at the base of the bell tower) attest to an older origin, probably 13th century. Ranked a Historic Monument in 1960, it is distinguished by its vast painted program, rare in the valleys of Aure and Louron, as well as its late Gothic architecture and subsequent additions. The nave, enlarged in 1583 by a north side, ends with a polygonal vaulted apse, while the bedside was modified in the 18th and 19th centuries to pierce bays.

The painted decoration, made between 1591 and 1592 for certain parts, covers vaults and walls of religious scenes: Last judgment, Seven capital sins (represented by women tempted by demons), Passion of Christ, or a genealogy of the Virgin. These frescoes, combined with symbols of the evangelists and the Church Fathers, testify to the spiritual importance of the place. The church was also a place of pilgrimage linked to a miraculous statue of the Virgin, discovered according to legend by an ox at the place called Sescas, where it was built. The bell tower, attributed to Guilhem Christia (after 1513), and the octagonal arrow added in 1868 complete its architectural history.

The building replaces an ancient Romanesque church dedicated to Saint Orens, whose ruins lasted until the 18th century. Until that time, the name of the parish oscillated between Saint-Orens and Notre-Dame, reflecting a double devotion. The transformations of the 19th century (1871), such as the enlargement of the windows or the modification of the rostrum by architect Durand, complete to shape the present church. Its classification in 1960 highlights its heritage value, both for its architecture and for its exceptional painted decor, studied by historians such as Marc Salvan-Guillotin (2002).

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