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Origin and history

The church Saint-Nicolas de Pujols finds its origins in a chapel built in 1457 for the staff of the castle, backed by the northern rampart. With a round path, she was actively involved in defending the city. In 1526, Baron Jean de Saint-Hémans founded a chapter of canons, requiring its collegial enlargement: a nave and a bell tower (over the northern gate) were added. The building was inaugurated in 1547, marking its transformation into a major place of worship.

In 1561, the former parish church Saint-Nicolas, which was considered to be inconvenient for defence, was destroyed. His duties were transferred to the college, now divided by a jube: the choir and the transept reserved for the canons, the nave to the parish. The college gradually loses its military traces, like the round path replaced by a cornice at the end of the sixteenth or early seventeenth century. After the concordat of 1801, it became the only parish church in Pujols.

The one-ship building has a nave of three spans and a pentagonal apse illuminated by liturgical windows. A crypt under the sanctuary housed the burials of the lords of Pujols. The bell tower, formerly the northern gate of the city, houses three bells (the last one installed in 1972). Two side chapels, dedicated to Notre-Dame and the Blessed Sacrament, are surmounted by stands accessible by spiral staircases, formerly connected to the round road and the castle (demoli in the 19th century).

Ranked a historic monument in 1926, the church underwent notable restorations: the bell tower and roof in 1822, the foothills and vaults of the choir in the 19th century. In 1880, Father Gerbeau discovered a crypt under the choir. The wooden altar of the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament comes from the church of Sainte-Foy, showing local liturgical reuse.

The history of the church is linked to the seigneurial family of Pujols, notably Jean de Saint-Hémans and his wife Catherine de Lévis-Châteaumorand, founders of the chapter in 1526. Dean Vincent Bilhonis and six canons served. The college, originally dedicated to Notre-Dame and Saint-Pierre, adopted the term Saint-Nicolas after the destruction of the old church in 1561, consolidating its central role in the religious and defensive life of the city.

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