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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The church of Saint-Pierre de Cazaux, located at the place called Cazaux in the commune of Laplume (Lot-et-Garonne), has its origins from the year 980, mentioned as Benedictine priory around the year 1000. Its Latin name casalibus ("gardens") evokes an settlement linked to cultivated areas, far from the present town. The presence of a double cross engraved above the gate – a symbol of King Sanche of Navarre – attests to its connection with the Viscount of Brulhois, whose descent the lord claimed. This Romanesque portal, adorned with a billeted archvolt and supported by historical capital columns, remains one of the few intact elements of the 12th century.

In 1030, Count Hunald de Gascogne, future monk and abbot of Moissac (1072-1085), owned the church before giving it in 1064 to the Clunisian priory of Layrac, as evidenced by a charter of donation. The building, partially destroyed during the 13th and 14th centuries wars, was almost entirely rebuilt in the 15th century. Its vaults, its structure and its bell tower disappear over time, leaving only the walls, Romanesque columns and a five-sided choir. Abandoned after the collapse of its structure in 1888, the church was classified as a historical monument in 1925 for its remains.

The history of Saint-Pierre de Cazaux reflects regional upheavals: population displacements to higher sites to escape invasions, the Church's central role in feudal organization, and architectural transitions between Roman and Gothic. Its abandonment in the 19th century marks the end of a thousand-year-old place of worship, now reduced to evocative ruins, owned by the municipality of Laplume.

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