Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The church of Saint-Quirin de Lalbenque, mentioned in 1090 during his dedication by the abbot of Marcilhac and the local prior, was destroyed during the Hundred Years War. Rebuilt at the end of the 15th or early 16th century, it incorporates defensive elements such as a creneled floor and mâchicoulis, reflecting the protection needs of the time. Later additions of the side chapels reveal several construction campaigns.

The western facade, the work of the departmental architect Jean-Baptiste Tourrette (1876-1877), marks a late modernization. A crypt under the choir, perhaps linked to the early church, houses carved capitals representing evangelical symbols and angels. The building, inscribed with historical monuments in 1925, also preserves exceptional baroque furniture, including a altarpiece and 17th-century woodwork from the Chartreux Convent of Cahors.

The choir houses a baroque ensemble made around 1640 under the direction of Dominican prior François de la Roche, supplemented by a painting by the Crucifixion signed by the Augustin monk Lucas Bardet (1670). The stained glass windows, added in the 19th and 20th centuries by the Gesta and Mauméjean workshops, illustrate hagiographic scenes. The church, with its modern bell tower and front-body porch, remains an architectural testimony of successive adaptations, mixing religious, defensive and community functions.

Fortified arrangements, such as raised walls above vaults and niches, highlight its role as a refuge during conflicts. The crypt of the seventeenth century, vaulted in cradle, and the neo-Gothic altars of the lateral chapels (XIX century) complete this heritage. The windows, six of which were created by Louis-Victor Gesta and three by the Mauméjean brothers in 1939, enrich his interior decor.

The church, a communal property, illustrates the architectural and artistic evolution of Quercy, between the Middle Ages and the modern era. Its inscription in 1925 recognizes its historical value, while its furniture elements, classified separately, testify to the regional artistic richness, notably through baroque altarpieces and preserved murals.

External links