Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The church Saint-Michel de Saint-Paul-en-Born, located in the Landes in New Aquitaine, dates from the 13th or 14th centuries. Originally a simple chapel in the Paynsas district, it became the parish church in 1678 by episcopal ordinance, replacing the old church of St Paul the Old, threatened by flooding of the pond of Aureilhan. Its architecture blends garluche and cut stone, with a pyramid porch from the old adjacent cemetery until 1856.

The building, originally novel, underwent major transformations. In 1626, a description revealed a vaulted choir separated from the nave by an incomplete baluster, as well as side chapels and a bell tower already in place. The nave, collapsed on an indefinite date, was rebuilt with an oak frame by the inhabitants. Traces of the original vault remain above the entrance door.

In 1866, the architect Alexandre Ozanne enlarged the church and added neo-Gothic elements: a false plaster vault, stained glass windows dedicated to Saint Paul and Saint Clair (patrons of the parish), and a tiled pavement of Bordeaux. The restorations of 1985, carried out by the commune and a local association, revealed walled openings, primitive foothills in the lateral chapels, and six cloves painted in the choir, witness to the metamorphoses of the building.

In 1678 the present church replaced that of Saint-Paul-le-Vieux, located in a floodplain near the pond of Aureilhan. An archepiscopal ordinance acquired this transfer after an investigation revealing the disrepair state of the old town, where the office could no longer be celebrated decently. This site, named Sanctus Paulus de Frontinhaco in 1398, was named after a Gallo-Roman owner.

A chapel of the knights of Malta, dedicated to Saint John, also existed 5 km south in the Leych district. Certified in 1760 during works (refined carpent, whitewashed walls), it probably served as a stage for the pilgrims of Santiago de Compostela on the track of Soulac. Disappeared around 1840-1850, it illustrates the local medieval religious network.

External links