Saint Peter's Church of Parentis-en-Born dans les Landes

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Key figures

Origin and history

Saint Peter's Church, dedicated to the Apostle Peter, was built in the 15th century in the Gothic style, mainly in garluch, a local material. It is the oldest building in Parentis-en-Born, although it has been redesigned several times. Until 1921, it was flanked by a fortified tower dating from the 14th century, vestige of the Hundred Years' War, equipped with murderers and snakes. This tower, symbol of the fortified churches of the Landes, lost its defensive function after the French reconquest of the Aquitaine and was replaced in 1922 by a neo-Gothic bell tower designed by architect Marcel Tregan.

The parish of Parentis-en-Born, attested from the 13th century, became an archpriest from 1550 to 1801, bringing together more than 25 parishes of the Buch and Born. The church, classified as a stage on the coastal road of Santiago de Compostela, reflects this religious and strategic importance. Its church-halle architecture, with two collaterals of the same height as the central nave, could date from the end of the Hundred Years' War, as evidenced by the arch keys adorned with lily flowers, symbols of attachment to the kingdom of France. Another hypothesis links these lilies to the marriage in 1534 of Suzanne du Puy, a local heiress, with Gaston de Bourbon-Basian, a member of the royal family.

The interior contains remarkable elements, including a 17th-century Christ on the Cross and a 13th-century Virgin with the Child, both classified as historical monuments in 1912. The latter, hidden during the French Revolution, escaped destruction during the looting of 1793. The 19th century stained glass windows, the marble altars (of Italy and the Pyrenees), and the arch keys with various symbols (royal coats, scallop shells, calyx) illustrate its rich heritage. Note also the door of the clots, murated, and its bentier before the 15th century, witnesses to the social marginalizations of the time.

The church underwent major transformations: prolongation of the nave to an indefinite date, abolition of the cemetery designated in 1852 (transferred to create the current public square), and construction of a revolutionary prison in 1793, now transformed into a boiler room. Outside modillons, representing figures like a siren or a man taking the lead, evoke local life, marked by fishing and agriculture. Finally, his role in the processions, like that of the Assumption (15 August), anchors Saint Peter in the religious traditions of the Landes.

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