The church of Sainte-Eugénie d'Eugénie-les-Bains was built after the creation of the commune in 1861 on a land formerly belonging to Damoulens. Before that, a simple chapel, dependent on the Abbé de Saint-Loubouer, served the seasonal baths. Montois architect M. Dupouy, initially criticized for his plans, proposed in 1862 a modified version, approved for a cost of 42,000 francs. Funded by local subscriptions, donations of materials and state aid, its construction was completed in 1869 in a neo-Gothic style, with two medieval turrets surrounding the entrance.
The bell tower, added in 1892 behind the choir, gave the building a distinctive silhouette. At the same time, the commune was slow to build a presbytery, forcing the first abbot to stay at his expense. In 1870 Father Lin, appointed by the bishop of Aire-sur-l-l-Adour, proposed a project of 12,000 francs, half financed by his money and a local tax. The work, delayed by conflicts with the municipal council on church furniture, only allowed its installation in 1883.
The large, symmetrical presbytery was built on a plot divided by the road leading to Aire-sur-l'Adour, the other part hosting the communal school. This land, acquired in 1861, illustrates the typical spatial organization of the small thermal communes of the Second Empire, where church, school and clerical housing formed a coherent whole. The abbé Lin himself supervised the work, lastingly marking the local history with his financial commitment and his role in the furniture dispute.
The church, with its presbytery and adjoining school, symbolizes the rise of Eugénie-les-Bains under Napoleon III, when the spas became poles of sociability and urban development. The neo-Gothic style, then in vogue, reflected a return to the idealised medieval forms, while mixed funding (public, private and ecclesiastical) showed collective involvement in these projects. Today, the building remains a marker of the Land's thermal heritage.
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