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Origin and history

The church of Saint-André-de-Carabaisse, located in Tournon-d'Agenais (Lot-et-Garonne), is a religious building dating back to the 12th century. It was cited in 1179 as the main church of Tournon, linked to the usurped tithes and then returned by the family of Anthah after the Lateran Council. In the Romanesque era, it consisted of a rectangular nave and an apse in the hemicycle. Its central role is confirmed by its annexes: the churches of Saint Bartholomew of Tournon, Saint Bazile of Tourreil, and Saint John of Lucante (now disappeared).

At the end of the 15th century, after the Hundred Years' War, the church, in poor condition, was restored by the family of Lustrac, the new owner of the nearby castle of Lamothe-d-Anthé. The square choir is rebuilt and vaulted dogives, decorated with paintings depicting the tetramorph. The Romanesque nave and its southern portal are preserved. Between 1470 and 1530, the Lustracs added a funeral chapel to the north, reserved for their lineage, as evidenced by the will of Jeanne Franget (1577), widow of Adrien de Lustrac, wishing to be buried there.

The building goes through the wars of Religion without major damage, as Nicolas de Villars noted in 1601. In the 17th century, the chapel of Lustrac passed to the lords of La Capelle-Biron. The church, still parish in 1790, retained its title until the Revolution. Its four-bay bell tower and hollow tile roof date back to this pivotal period between the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Classified as a Historic Monument in 1994, it illustrates the religious architecture of Lot-et-Garonnaise, combining Romanesque, Gothic and painted decoration of the 16th-17th centuries.

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