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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Sainte-Croix church of Sainte-Croix-du-Mont, located in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, is a 12th-century parish church originally attached to the Bordeaux abbey of the same name. Its Romanesque architecture, marked by a carpented nave without low sides or transept, ends with a polygonal bedside. The building, not oriented according to the traditional liturgical axis, follows a north-north-east-south-south-west direction, a rare peculiarity. Over the centuries, additions such as a chapel Notre-Dame-de-Pitié (family of Taste) and a chapel Saint-Roch altered its original structure, while the 12th-century bell tower was destroyed in 1740 to give way to a new bell tower, itself damaged by lightning in 1831.

In 1841, the church was classified by the Gironde Historic Monuments Commission, and restoration projects were proposed by architects such as Paul Abadie (1847). However, for lack of funding, the building deteriorated until its demolition in 1877, ordered by Cardinal Donnet. Reconstructed between 1877 and 1880 by the architect Jean Hostering in a neo-Gothic style, only part of the original Romanesque portal remains, remarkable for its weaves decorated with rope snipers, a motif symbolizing the unity of the faithful. This portal, inscribed in the historical monuments in 1925, is today the last sculpted vestige of the 12th century, the Romanesque capitals having been dispersed, some of which are exposed to Castelnau-Bretenoux castle.

The early church, located in the middle of the first vines of the Entre-deux-Mers, reflected the close link between the religious and wine life of the region. The sculptures of the portal, like birds beaking lions, bear witness to local artistic influences, shared with other girondine churches (Saint-Seurin de Bordeaux, Saint-Pierre de Loupiac). The reconstruction of the 19th century, though radical, preserved this exceptional sculptural heritage, offering a rare testimony of Aquitaine Romanesque art. The drawings of Léo Drouyn (1846-1850) and the photographs of Jean-Auguste Brutails (1896) document this today fragmentary heritage.

Heritage protection extends to the portal (classified in 1925) and dispersed capitals, listed in the Palissy base. The present church, communal property, thus combines medieval history and modern transformations, illustrating the challenges of conservation in the face of urban and religious developments. Its past role as a place of worship and community gathering, in an area marked by viticulture, makes it a symbol of the rural heritage girondin.

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