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Origin and history

Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption de Lescar Cathedral has its origins in a 10th century monastery, transformed into a regular chapter in the 12th century. The present building, built in 1120 by Bishop Guy de Lons, was consecrated in 1145. It replaces a first cathedral destroyed by the Normans in 841, then located in Lower Town. The site, refocused on a defensive hill, previously housed a Baptistery dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, replaced by a chapel "Saint Mary" founded by a repentant soldier, Loup-Fort.

From the 15th century, the cathedral became the necropolis of the family of Albret, kings of Navarre, sheltering the tombs of François Phébus (1483), Catherine of Navarre, John d'Albret, and Henri II d'Albret with Marguerite d'Angoulême, grandparents of Henry IV. Nicknamed the "Saint-Denis Bearnais", it was looted during the Wars of Religion: in 1569 the Protestant troops of Montgomery destroyed the castle of Saint-Galactoire, burned its relics, and desecrated the tomb of Guy de Lons. The goods of the Chapter, seized between 1570 and 1573, were partly sold, and the canons exiled until 1610.

The building suffered major deterioration: partial collapse of the vault around 1600, loss of funeral ornaments of the kings of Navarre, and destruction of the episcopal archives during the Revolution. Ranked a historic monument in 1840, the cathedral enjoyed restorations in the 19th century, including its 12th century Romanesque mosaic (Moorish hunting scene) and carved capitals depicting biblical scenes. The 16th-century stalls, which were displaced in 1836 and 1859, illustrate Bearnais Catholic figures.

The Romanesque bedside, the vaulted nave in a cradle, and the cross-sectional cot bottoms characterize its architecture. Built in Lasseube sandstone, it also houses a romantic organ by Georges Wenner (1869), classified in 1972. Claustral buildings, now extinct, once formed a closed town with cloister (XIVth century), sacristy, and canon housing. The cloister, used as a grave until the 18th century, was destroyed after 1722.

The excavations of 1928-1929 revealed the royal vault of the sovereigns of Navarre, whose bones, identified by anthropologists, were buried in six coffins bearing their initials. The cathedral, disused in 1793 and transformed into the Temple of Reason, regained its religious function after 1801, becoming a co-cathedral of the diocese of Bayonne-Lescar-Oloron. Recent restoration campaigns (since 2006) aim to preserve its murals and mosaic, weakened by climatic variations.

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