Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Church of Notre-Dame-de-All-Espoir of Saint-Genès-de-Lombaud, located in Gironde, finds its origins in the 11th century, on the remains of a Gallo-Roman place of worship, as evidenced by the excavations that revealed mosaics, tiles and a votive altar. Rebuilt in the 12th century, it became a place of pilgrimage dedicated to a Black Virgin, attracting a tributary such that the building was enlarged in the 13th century by a vaulted lower side. Its architecture combines Romanesque elements (west facade, flat bedside choir) and early Gothic additions, such as vaults on dogive cross.

The western facade, typically Romanesque, is decorated with four historic capitals and an archvolt depicting twenty subjects, including moralizing scenes (luxury, avarice, infernal dance). These sculptures, partially restored in the 19th century, reflect medieval religious concerns, mixing pagan and Christian symbols. The portal warns against sins, with representations of cursed musicians, bearers of fish (word play on fishermen/fishers), and a hare hunt symbolizing the fight against evil.

In the 17th century, a door was pierced in the south façade, and a sacristy was added in the 18th century. The present two-bay bell tower could reproduce an older model. The building, built on a slope, has an atypical orientation (south-east/north-west) due to the terrain. Ranked a historic monument in 2004, it houses a 13th or 14th century Black Virgin, classified in 1908, as well as a Gallo-Roman votive altar reused as a base for a statue of Pope Urban II.

The 16th century (1507) murals, rediscovered in 1879 but now missing, represented Pope Urban II, a Pieta and donor Robert Courraut. These frescoes, as well as the furniture (statue of Urbain II, Roman altar), highlight the historical strata of the site, from ancient origins to medieval pilgrimage. The church thus illustrates the cultural and artistic continuity of a sacred place over nearly two millennia.

Romanesque iconography, exceptionally preserved, includes capitals with moralizing themes (sacrilège community, pagan farandole) and geometric patterns. These elements, combined with the history of the pilgrimage and the Gallo-Roman remains, make Notre-Dame-de-All-Espoir a major testimony of Aquitaine religious art and its evolution between antiquity and modern times.

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