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Origin and history

The Saint-Sernin church of Twelvevielle, located in Saint-Justin in the Landes, is a religious building whose origins date back to the 12th century. A first church dedicated to Saint John the Baptist was built in the first half of this century. Its apse, still visible today, forms the southern chapel of the present building. This primitive building was then doubled, at the beginning of the Gothic period, by an extended nave of a choir in the Chamber, then taking the name of Saint-Sernin.

In the 14th and 15th centuries, the church underwent changes related to the disorders of the Hundred Years War. It is fortified, with the addition of high rooms on the bedside and the construction of a bell tower above the right span of the southern chapel, inspired by the nearby church of Sarbazan. These adjustments reflect the defensive needs of the time, in a region marked by conflicts between the kingdoms of France and England.

In 1570, the church was burned by Protestant troops during the Wars of Religion, a violent episode that deeply marked the Landes. In the 17th century, it was restored and enlarged: the nave vault was redone, a porch and a sacristy were added, and a presbytery was built (sold in 1828 but still existing). This work demonstrates a desire to restore the building to its religious and community function after the destruction.

The church is listed as historical monuments by order of 11 December 1995, thus recognizing its heritage value. The interior elevations, decapitated in the 1990s, revealed the apparent stone, highlighting the Romanesque and Gothic architectural features of the building. Today, it remains a testimony to the religious, military and social developments in the region.

Architecturally, the building consists of a nave of two vaulted bays in a cradle, preceded by a porch and extended by a choir in a hemicycle. A second vessel, partly from the early Romanesque church, includes an apsidiole and a bell tower covered with a roof in the pavilion. These elements illustrate the superimpositions of styles and uses over the centuries.

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