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Origin and history

The church of Saint-Pierre-ès-Liens, attested from 1153, was initially the chapel of the castle of the Stephani, lords of Gigouzac. The tower and part of the nave date from the 12th century, while the side chapel, contemporary of the building, served as a chapel for the masses sponsored by this family. The parish was given to the monastery of the Vigan by Raymond Stephani of Valon, who paid homage to the king of France in 1259. The Stephani founded a chapelry in the early 14th century, enriched in 1348 by Bernard Stephani, who increased the number of chaplains.

During the Hundred Years War, Gigouzac suffered several English seats (1360, 1369, 1406, 1415), causing destruction and economic ruin. The area, under English rule between 1371 and 1380, was liberated in 1390, but the lords remained in defence. Jacques de Valon, the last notable heir, died around 1480, leaving his property ruined. The chapel was merged in 1450 with the College of Obituary Priests. The church, restored after the war, saw its vaulted choir redone, a north side low added in the seventeenth century, and false vaults installed in the nineteenth.

The building, which was listed as a historical monument in 1972, preserves a 17th century walnut altarpiece attributed to the Tournié workshops. Its complex architecture reflects the successive additions: 13th century apse with dogives cross, early nave of the 12th, and north side of the 17th. The tower, initially defensive, was raised to form a bell tower. The remains of the adjacent castle, which disappeared in 1897, recall its original link with the seigneury of Gigouzac.

The Stephani then the Valon marked the history of the place, with family graves in the church, including that of Jacques de Valon (died 1567). The seigneury then passed to the Bousquet, then to the Filhol and to the Arnis by alliances, before being sold in 1670. Little affected by the Wars of Religion, the region maintained relative stability, in contrast to the ravages of the Hundred Years War.

The furniture includes remarkable elements such as the historic climaxes of the abside and the funeral liters of the Bousquet, which appeared during work in 1895. The church, a communal property, today bears witness to nearly nine centuries of local history, between seigneurial power, medieval conflicts and architectural evolution.

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