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Origin and history

The church Saint-Médard de Geloux, located in the Landes department in New Aquitaine, finds its origins in the eleventh century. In 1070, the primitive building was donated to the abbey of Saint-Sever by Arnaud-Seguin de Stag, whose son, Raimond, was a monk. The first construction works include a vaulted bedside and a carpented nave, which today remains an external foothill decorated with capitals and an interior arch supported by carved capitals. These elements bear witness to the early Romanesque architecture of the monument.

From the 13th century, in the context of conflicts between the kings of France and England, the church was fortified. A square tower and a staircase turret are added against the western facade, followed, in the 14th century, by a second tower above the bedside. These adjustments reflect the defensive needs of the time, linked to the Hundred Years War. After these conflicts, a chapel is built on the southern side of the nave, covered with painted dogive vaults dedicated to Christ and the Virgin, illustrating the artistic and religious evolution of the monument.

The church furniture, fully restored, is of exceptional richness. Major pieces include an altar, a tabernacle and a gold and polychrome wooden altarpiece, decorated with statuettes and bas-reliefs. The main altarpiece represents Saint Médard and Saint George, patrons of the church, while another altarpiece, dedicated to the Virgin, includes a painted Assumption after Nicolas Poussin by Louis Anselme Longa. The baptismal fonts, decorated with a bas-relief of the Baptism of Christ, and a wooden door carved from the seventeenth century, also bear witness to the local craftsmanship of the Montois cabinetmakers.

The murals of the early 16th century, rediscovered in 2003, cover the vaults and the southern chapel. They represent Christ in glory surrounded by the Apostles, scenes of the Annunciation and the Crucifixion, as well as the Four Evangelists and the Five-Plaies of Christ. These frescoes, of mystical inspiration, reflect the late medieval devotions and symbolic richness of the religious art of the time.

The church, inscribed in historical monuments since July 30, 1968, illustrates both the architectural history of the Landes and the successive artistic influences, from the Middle Ages to the modern era. Its two-span nave vaulted in a cradle, its flanks and its fortified semicircular bedside make it a remarkable example of the regional religious and defensive heritage.

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