Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Lège found its origins in the 13th century, as evidenced by the colliery of the Comminges of 1387. This first building, old and weakened by time, was the subject of a request for repair grants in 1834 by the municipality. Without financial resources, no intervention was conducted, leading to its total collapse in 1867. The reconstruction began in 1874, followed by the building of the bell tower from 1903, marking the rebirth of the place of worship.

The present church preserves traces of its turbulent history, including a Gallo-Roman cinematic age in white marble, decorated with geometric and vegetal motifs (flowers, grape clusters). This object, resulting from an ancient necropolis on which the church was built, highlights the historical stratification of the site. Inside, the furniture reflects liturgical developments: the former plaster altar (pre-Vatican II), decorated with biblical scenes, is next to a later wooden altar, adapted to the reforms of the twentieth century.

Among the protected elements are a bronze bell of 1760, a clock mechanism of 1891 signed by the watchmaker Dominique Mengarduque, as well as remarkable liturgical objects. A statuette of Saint Roch (XVIIth–XVIIIth century), a carved wooden frame (XVIIIth century, despite the ecclesiastical prohibition of the material) and an embroidered chasuble (mid-19th century) illustrate the richness of the furniture heritage. The sculpted blazons, combining religious symbols (trenched crosses, Marian monogram) and heraldic (lion, diagonal bands), add an artistic and historical dimension.

The site, partly listed in the inventory of historical monuments, bears witness to both local piety, architectural upheavals linked to economic constraints and liturgical adaptations throughout the centuries. Its adjacent cemetery, with the ancient age, also recalls the ancestral link between sacred and collective memory.

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