Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The church of Saint-Thyrs de Labruguière, built in the 14th century, features Gothic architecture marked by a steeple tower in stone and arches of warheads. Its elongated plane (34 m long) includes a nave of four spans, a choir with cut strips, and later added side chapels. The bell tower, dated by an obituary plate from 1314 to 1322, preserves carved elements such as the Agnus Dei and figurative caps, while its polygonal arrow was rebuilt around 1417.

The materials used reflect the periods of construction: medium sandstone apparatus for the Gothic parts, stoneware for the lateral chapels (XVth–XVIth centuries). The plaster vaults, added in the 19th century, replace a redesigned structure. A Romanesque stone in use in the bell tower suggests a first place of worship near the castle of La Tour, perhaps from the twelfth century, dedicated to Saint Thyrs, martyr of the second century.

The church underwent major enlargements in the seventeenth century (1613–1630) under the impulse of Marie-Louise de Voisins and Antoine de Cardaillac, with the addition of chapels and the partial reconstruction of the nave. In the 19th century, modifications included a south porch (1830), a north chapel (1833), and trompe-l'oeil paintings by Morelli (1848). The bell tower and choir, classified as Historical Monuments in 1927, were restored after a fire in 1956.

Dendrochronology (2008) campaigns on wood frames did not allow precise dates for wood. The outer bell, dated 1599, and the geminous bays of the bell tower, inspired by the Toulouse cloisters, bear witness to regional artistic influences. The church, a communal property, illustrates the architectural and religious evolution of a territory marked by medieval and modern Catholicism.

The term Saint-Thyrs, rare, evokes a Greek deacon martyred with Andoche at Saulieu (Burgundy). The local tradition links this cult to a preroman chapel near the Château de La Tour, of which a sewn lintel could be a vestige. The Romanesque carved stone of Christ, integrated with the Gothic bell tower, reinforces the hypothesis of a sanctuary before the 14th century.

Future

The choir and the bell tower have been registered at the Historical Monuments since 1927.

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