Saint-Jean-Baptiste (Bourdalat)
The Catholic parish church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste in Bourdalat , a French parish in the Landes department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region , was originally built in the 14th century.
history
The church dedicated to John the Baptist was probably built in the 14th century. This first building is believed to have been built with irregular quarry stones and comprised a single-nave nave , which was closed in the east with a simple flat wall. In the 15th or 16th century, the church was extended to the west by a bell tower made of medium, regular masonry bond. It consists of a square ground floor with a ribbed vault made of bricks , a first floor with the same floor plan and three floors with an octagonal floor plan. The transition from the square to the octagon is made by trumpetingmade of brick at the corners of the first floor. The floors, which can be reached via a small gallery inside the church, have only small light openings for reasons of better defense with the exception of the upper part, which is illuminated by real windows.
The list of the few objects carried by Protestant troops in the Huguenot Wars in the 16th century reveals the relative poverty of the Church at that time. On the other hand, the damage was still great: overturned altars , broken furniture, burned books and laundry. Shortly thereafter, the eastern wall was replaced by a semicircular apse the same width as the nave. A side chapel in honor of the Virgin Mary was built on the south side , which was restored, raised and buttressed in 1692 . At the same time, the main nave was embellished with a painted ceiling, as shown by the remains in the roof structure of the side chapel, which came to light during restoration work in 1998 and 1999. The planks damaged by rainwater showed plant and figurative motifs of beautiful quality.
In 1764 which was vestry built and extensive work to beautify the church carried out repairs to the flooring, Gilding of objects, replacing the wooden ceiling by a vault made of plaster, ornaments made of plaster in the nave and choir , building a vestibule made of wood, of a small gallery with carved balusters and production of a richly decorated, polychrome entrance door.
On July 5, 1795, the parish council stated that the church had been robbed of its paintings and all its church utensils, the altars had been smashed, the paneling was torn out and piled up in the side chapel and that half of the flooring had been removed. However, the church itself remained intact and residents were asked to repair it. However, it took a large part of the 19th century before remnants of the choir's furnishings were recovered, completed and installed. The glass windows were repaired in 1814. At the same time, an asymmetrical canopy was installed at the foot of the bell tower. However, the church required major repairs. In 1880 the Ministry of the Interior and Culture gave a grant of 5,000 francs for the “new building”, in 1890 the old windows were enlarged and new ones opened thanks to donations from the Comte de Maquillé.
Towards the end of the 20th century, the poor condition required a complete restoration of the building's exterior. In 1998 and 1999 the external plaster was renewed, the buttresses repaired, the roof trusses restored and the roofs re-covered. In 2004 and 2005, on the other hand, the interior of the church was restored, the interior plaster renewed, the stucco repaired, all walls repainted in old colors and a complete restoration of the church furnishings .
Furnishing
The vestibule is one of the oldest elements of the church. It is covered with a dome, the vault ribs of which unite in the middle in a hanger . Geometric figures, including Maltese crosses, are engraved in the panels of the wall cladding. Two small side doors and two large door leaves lead into the nave. A head of a cherub with gilded wings is attached above the door leaves.
The retable of the main altar consists of numerous gilded or painted wooden elements. Two narrow panels are framed by two serpentine columns, which are decorated with vine tendrils and embellished on the outside with volutes . The panels show symbols of the Mass and the Eucharist , on the left a stole , a bell , a bunch of grapes, a ciborium , a lecture cross and a monstrance , on the right a bouquet of leaves, an aiguière , a sexton’s hammer, a chalice and a cross with a double crossbar . The columns are crowned with Corinthian capitals that support a cornice . Flower baskets and foliage adorn the tips of the volutes. The reredos are accompanied by the main altar in the form of a rounded sarcophagus with a rocaille decoration made of false marble . A large shell adorns the middle, plant tendrils on the sides.
Altar and reredos fit into a panel that extends around the entire choir. It is interrupted by pedestals on which are statues dating from the 19th century. A console is attached to the paneling next to the altar , and above it is a voluminous bouquet of leaves and acanthus . A long pleated ribbon of fabric connects two gold nails. The next spaces are occupied by the seats for the priest and the acolytes . The last space on the right frames the entrance to the sacristy , which is next to the choir.
In the past , the plinths were probably extended as pilasters , which introduced the division of the vaulted ceiling of the choir. The seven spaces in the vaulted ceiling were painted with biblical motifs in the 1950s. The illustrated in the middle of crucifixion is the right of Ascension and left of Assumption of Mary framed. The last two spaces on the left illustrate the scenes of the Annunciation of the Lord and the Visitation of Mary , on the right shows Jesus in the temple and a detail of the Last Supper with Jesus and the apostles Peter and John at his side.
A prayer chair with a bust of a bishop as a bas-relief , the basket of an old pulpit and two confessionals , one of which has a perforated door, complete the furniture of the church.
The glass painter Gustave Pierre Dagrant supplied the church's twelve stained glass windows over a period of 25 years. The two windows of the gallery can be recognized as the oldest due to their style. They show the proclamation of the Lord and the birth of Christ. In 1890 two windows with the representations of John the Baptist and Louis IX. used by France at the side of the choir. In 1899 six more were added, three of which were to embellish the north wall of the nave with depictions of the Archangel Michael and Saint Saturninus of Toulouse and Francis Xavier . The other three decorate the aisle with the portraits of Our Lady of Notre-Dame de Buglose and Notre-Dame de Maylis and the representation of St. Leopold III. of Austria . In 1900 the window with the representation of the baptism of Jesus took its place in the baptistery. In 1914 the window of the choir was finally decorated with the motif of the Heart of Jesus in the longitudinal axis .
Finally, the entrance door belongs to a group of works, the specimens of which have been produced since the late 17th century and can be found in numerous churches in the Landes, especially in the region around Mont-de-Marsan. There are artists from Mont-de-Marsan who create their works according to a similar pattern, panels made of wood in the lower area, a central motif such as a lion's head, a rosette or foliage and fields in the upper area with depictions of two saints, including that of the patron saint of the respective church. On the door of the parish church of Bourdalat, the central motif is a rosette of acanthus leaves in a bar frame and the fields on the upper area depict John the Baptist with Agnus Dei and St. Benedict. The patron saint wears an animal skin, holds his left hand flat on his chest and a cross in his right hand. Benedict holds the book with the rules of the order in his right hand and a crook in his left hand as a sign of his reputation.
The church has been inscribed as a monument historique since January 6, 1998 
, as has the reredos as furniture since September 1, 1986, and the entrance door since February 4, 1991.
Web links
- Description at the French Ministry of Culture (French)
- Description at the Comité d'études pour l'Histoire et l'Art de la Gascogne (CEHAG) and Amis des églises Anciennes des Landes (AEAL) (French)
Coordinates: 43 ° 50 ′ 23.2 " N , 0 ° 12 ′ 36.6" W.