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Origin and history

The Protestant Temple of Caussade, located 23 Clément-Marot Street, is a 19th-century religious building. It replaced a barn built in 1779 by the Protestant community after the French Revolution, which had allowed freedom of worship. This first place of clandestine assembly marked the end of the persecutions suffered under the Ancien Régime, notably after the Calas affair and the imprisonment of Pastor François Rochette in 1761.

In 1875 the Presbyteral Council of Caussade launched the construction of a new temple, entrusted to the diocesan architect Marie Camille Léopold Gardelle. The latter, inspired by the temple of Nerac, initially proposed a centered plan, finally refused to benefit from a basilical plan. The building, made of brick and cut stone, is completed under the concordat regime and remains today a symbol of Protestantism in Lower Quercy.

The history of Caussade has been deeply linked to Protestantism since the Renaissance. The town, a Huguenot stronghold in the 16th century, was besieged by Richelieu and saw its fortifications shaved by order of Louis XIII. Figures such as Marguerite de Valois-Angoulême, Jeanne d'Albret or Henri IV exerted a major influence. Royal persecutions led families, such as magistrate Pierre du Calvet, to exile to Quebec.

The present temple, inscribed in the Historical Monuments in 2015, perpetuates this memory. It belongs to the United Protestant Church of France and reflects the resilience of a community marked by the wars of religion, clandestine cults in the Desert, and struggles for freedom of conscience. Its sober architecture and its central location make it an emblematic heritage of Tarn-et-Garonne.

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