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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The church of Saint-Jacques de Bergerac finds its origins in the 12th century, founded by the monks of the abbey of Saint-Florent de Saumur installed at the priory of Saint-Martin. A first chapel, mentioned in 1088 in a bubble of Pope Urban II, was destroyed by the English in 1345 after the Battle of Bergerac. Rebuilt in 1377, it became a place of oath for the consuls of the city, in the presence of the constable Bertrand Duguesclin.

In the 16th century the church was enlarged with a new bell tower and a choir, but the Wars of Religion ravaged it in 1553: only the tower tower resisted, its stones used to erect ramparts. Peace returned, the prior bought the ruins in 1620 for partial reconstruction, accelerated by the visit of Louis XIII in 1621. The ramparts were then demolished, and the church took its present appearance in 1685 thanks to the donations of Louis XIV, Prior Jean Duffau and Consuls.

The façades and portals, dating from the seventeenth to eighteenth centuries, complete the building, while the decorations and vaults were added in 1870. During the Revolution, the church was closed and its worship banned. In the 19th century, it housed a Cavaillé-Coll organ (1877), classified as a historical monument in 1993. Joined the historical monuments in 1974, it remains an active place of worship, with a Sunday evening Mass.

Its history reflects Bergerac's religious and political upheavals: destruction during the Wars of Religion, reconstruction under the Old Regime, and adaptations to liturgical evolutions (Vatican II conciliation in the 1970s). The building, owned by the municipality, thus combines medieval, classical and modern heritage, while marking the jacquary route to Compostela.

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