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Origin and history

The church Our Lady of Saubens was founded at the end of the 12th century by the Benedictines of the Daurade of Toulouse. In a Romanesque style, it preserves a bedside and a bell tower of its origin, while its nave and lower side were rebuilt in the 17th and 19th centuries. Ranked a historic monument since 1995, it is distinguished by its soft sandstone construction and its cornice of carved modillons, including a demon head and a woman with a snake, symbol of lust.

The major works of the 18th and 19th centuries transformed the building: the nave and the lower sides were redesigned, and in 1892 the architect Romestier erected the bell tower of the entrance porch. In 1901 stained glass windows were installed, and Abbé Joseph Colombe, according to local tradition, decorated the interior walls with stencils with geometric and floral motifs. These paintings, restored with the help of the Toulouse School of Fine Arts, are now listed as historical monuments.

During the Revolution, the church became a " Temple of Reason", and its bell of 1473, classified since 1914, barely escaped the cast iron to be transformed into a cannon. This bell, adorned with bas-reliefs representing Christ, a Virgin with the Child and Saint Michael terrorizing the demon, bears an inscription mentioning Bernard de Gramont and Castelmaricitart, lords of Saubens in the 15th century. The building, surrounded by its cemetery until the 19th century, illustrates the architectural and religious evolution of the garonnaise plain.

Originally constituted by a semicircular apse and a unique nave, the church later enriched with chapels and sacristy. Its plan is inspired by Roman basilicas, while its interior decorations, restored in the twentieth century, bear witness to the influence of Abbé Colombe. A rare example of medieval iconography in the region is the presence of sculpted models, although they are not.

Owned by the commune, the church Notre-Dame de Saubens has been protected for its bedside and bell tower since 1926, and since 1991 in its entirety. Its soft sandstone, typical of the bed of the Garonne, and its architectural elements make it a remarkable heritage of Occitanie, between Romanesque heritage and modern transformations.

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