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Origin and history

The Church of Saint-Amand (or Saint-Amans) of Tayrac, located in the Lot-et-Garonne department of New Aquitaine, is a religious building dating back to the 12th century. In a primitive Romanesque style, it was initially a dependence of the Benedictine abbey of Saint-Maurin, as evidenced by the act of 1235 by which the bishop of Agen Raoul de Peyrines gave half of the tithes of the parish to the abbot. The monks acquire the other half two years later, thus consolidating their control over this place of worship.

In the Middle Ages, the church was transformed into a priory, but this institution disappeared during the Hundred Years War (1337-1453), and its property then returned to the mother abbey. An act of 1571 attests to the sale of the prioral house by the Abbé de Saint-Maurin, marking the final end of this period. The building, entirely vaulted from its construction, was enriched in the 16th century by two side chapels dedicated to Saint Anthony (in the north) and Saint Catherine (in the south), the latter carrying the arms of the Sorbier family, local lords.

The reshuffles continued in the 17th and 19th centuries, notably changing the bedside and integrating arches of warheads into the choir and transept. Ranked a historical monument in 1998, the church retains architectural elements characteristic of each era, including vaulted chapels and seigneurial weapons. Its history reflects the close links between religious power (the Abbey of Saint-Maurin), local nobility (the Sorbier) and parish community, from the Middle Ages to the modern era.

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