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Origin and history

The church Sainte-Livrede de Sainte-Livrede-sur-Lot, located in the Lot-et-Garonne department, finds its origins in the 12th century. In 1117 it was given to the Benedictines of the Abbey of the Chair-God by an act of donation, becoming a priory independent of the episcopal jurisdiction of Agen. Merovingian sarcophagi discovered on the site attest to an earlier necropolis, while the construction of the present church begins shortly after, beginning with the bedside. Pope Calixte II confirmed his rights in 1120, followed by William IX of Aquitaine in 1122. The priory, exempted from episcopal authority by a papal bubble in 1184, enriched by seigneurial rights in the 13th century, thanks in particular to transactions with the Madaillan family.

In the 14th century, the church was completed by the addition of a northern vessel (current chapel of the Virgin), where a bishop's gissant would be discovered later. Partly destroyed during the wars of religion by Protestants, it loses its medieval conventual buildings. In 1652, the priory moved to the Congregation of Saint Maur, which attempted ambitious restorations, but the church had only ten monks in 1763. At the time of the Revolution, it became parish, while the convent buildings were sold and dismantled. A neo-Gothic reconstruction of the nave, bell tower and facade was undertaken in 1864 by architect Gustave Alaux.

The church, classified as a Historical Monument in 1908, preserves Romanesque elements (abside in cul-de-four, northern absidiole) and Gothic elements (ogival vaults, northern chapel). Its bedside has an architectural characteristic: a main apse extended by a narrower, non-concentric hemicycle, requiring an adapted vault. The decorations include plant motifs, prominent heads and hybrid animals. The bell tower, initially square and then octagonal, was restored in the seventeenth century after the damage of the Wars of Religion. The 19th century excavations reveal foundations dating back to the 9th century, confirming the site's seniority.

The priory, dependent on the Chair-God, experienced a decadence in the 15th century before being reformed by the Maurists in 1652. The latter partially rebuilt the convent buildings in the 18th century, but after the Revolution the site was fragmented: a wing became a school. In 1864, the southern nave was redone under the direction of Alaux, with a vault completed after the plans of Leopold Payen. Today, the church, communal property, blends medieval remains and modern restorations, illustrating almost a thousand years of religious and architectural history.

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