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Key figures

Origin and history

The church of Notre-Dame-de-l'Assumption de Baigts, located in the Landes department in New Aquitaine, is a Romanesque building dating back to the 12th century. It is mentioned for the first time in the Red Book of Dax Cathedral around the middle of this century. Its very location bears witness to an older past: it was erected on the foundations of a castle built around the year thousand by the Lord of Caupenne. The traces of three concentric pits and the presence of the house Lassalle, former concierge of the castle, recall this defensive origin. The bell tower, equipped with murderers, retains characteristics of the original dungeon, with thick walls of 1.20 m and a resistant ferrous stone apparatus.

The structure of the church reveals a superimposition of styles and periods. The bandeau adorning the exterior walls, buttresses and partially preserved modillons date from the initial Romanesque period. In 1569, the building was ravaged during the Wars of Religion, especially by Protestants, destroying part of the vault. It was rebuilt in the Renaissance style, as was the high altar, remarkable for its golden torso columns and sculptures of angelots, vine leaves and grape clusters, made by Italian artists. The seventeenth century saw the addition of a monumental staircase to facilitate access from the road, while the cemetery was still adjacent to the church.

Among the notable heritage elements are a statue of the Virgin and a statue of St. Joseph (XVI century), as well as a painting depicting the Assumption and a work offered by Napoleon III appearing in St. Roch. In 1877, the cemetery was moved near the presbytery, an old building housing a quadrennial oak. The bell tower, threatened by an advanced state of disrepair in 1910, was the subject of a major restoration in 1911, led by architect Temory de Mugron and carpenter J.B. Soubin. This work allowed to preserve this emblematic building, a witness to nearly a millennium of local history.

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