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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Augustinian Tower of Geaune, classified as a historical monument in 1909, is the last significant vestige of the Augustinian convent founded in 1401 by Raymond Bernard III of Castelnau-Tursan. This convent, conceived as a family necropolis, was built in the early 15th century, but the Hundred Years War delayed its completion: the church was not consecrated until 1490. The site became a strategic place for the Castelnau family, which adopted Protestantism in the 16th century, saving the church (but not the convent buildings) during the Wars of Religion.

In 1569, the Huguenote troops of Montgomery burned down the convent after Geaune's siege, leaving only the church intact. The Augustines partially rebuilt the site and occupied it until the French Revolution, during which the convent was dismantled. Its stones were reused by the inhabitants, leaving only the Gothic tower and the walls of the sacristy to survive. At the beginning of the 19th century, the parish priest Lamarque built a school hall there, a function that the site still retains today.

The adjacent medieval garden, reconstructed according to the monastic plans of the Middle Ages (inspired by the Capitular De Villis de Charlemagne and the plan of Saint-Gall), symbolizes paradise with its four squares delimited by alleys. It gathers vegetable plants, medicinal (herbularius), aromatic and tinctoriales, around a central neflier representing the tree of life. This garden illustrates medieval monastic uses, mixing spirituality, subsistence and botanical knowledge.

Architecturally, the Gothic tower and the vestiges of the sacristy bear witness to the past importance of the convent. The current arcade, once open to a missing room, recalls the conventual spatial organization. The tower, a communal property since the Revolution, embodies both the memory of Castelnau-Tursan, the religious conflicts of the Landes, and the resilience of a heritage reinvested by the local community.

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