Église Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Saint-Jean-de-Luz
Inside of the Église Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Saint-Jean-de-Luz
43°23′18″N 1°39′46″W / 43.3883°N 1.6627°W / 43.3883; -1.6627
Location	Saint-Jean-de-Luz, Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Architecture
Heritage designation	Monument historique[1]
Completed	1685

The Église Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Saint-Jean-de-Luz is a Roman Catholic church in the commune of Saint-Jean-de-Luz, in the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques.^[2]

Louis XIV was married in the church in 1660.^[3]

The church is known for its monumental altarpiece, in carved gilded wood, that occupies the entire height of the back wall of the apse, and the two wings that flank it.^[4]

The church has been a Monument historique since 1931.^[5]

History

The history of the church begins long before the marriage of Louis XIV and Marie-Thérèse. Already in the twelfth century, a Romanesque church gathered around it the houses of the small town, built between sea and marshes. Saint-Jean-de-Luz, "Donibane Lohizune": "Luz" is the contraction of Lohizun, which means swampy, in Basque.

During the following centuries, going through the English domination, the Hundred Years War, the Spanish invasions, the city was burned several times, and the church suffered, already in 1419, then, under Francis I, in 1523, 1542, 1558. We can still, today, discover remains of the Gothic church of the fifteenth century: a pillar, several stone ribs, blackout windows, with west and south walls. Three pretty carved windows at the top of the south wall date from the late sixteenth century or early seventeenth century; they are equipped inside with "coussièges", small stone benches opposite each other.

On December 5, 1630, "the bayle, jurats and community of Saint-Jean-de-Luz" decided to enlarge the sanctuary, then too small for a population of 12,000 inhabitants, in a city made prosperous by whaling, cod fishing and the West Indies trade. The work, several times interrupted, will last half a century.

At the time of the marriage of Louis XIV, in 1660, the church was under construction. Of the old church, only the south wall - the one along the current rue Gambetta - and the bell tower, which will gain an additional floor in 1685, will be preserved.

Already in June 1660, the south wall was extended to the walls of the new choir, built several meters behind the existing altar. A door was opened there in 1650: it is the one that the royal couple crosses on the wedding day.

To the north, a new wall is slowly being built, parallel to the old wall, five meters away, recovering the old stones of one to build the other. A door was opened in 1663. This is the small door used today, north of the church.

In 1672, finally, the last breach at the corner of the north and west walls was closed; "cattle and winds and rain" will no longer enter the sanctuary. A staircase was cast in the corner, in 1675, leading to the first gallery; to the south, a wooden staircase will be replaced, in 1750, by the stone staircase, whose beautiful wrought iron balustrade dates from 1755. The church then reached its current size and volume.

The large gate was opened and laid out between 1663 and 1671, with interruptions of work. It was around 1669 that the door called "the marriage of Louis XIV" was walled, so that no other couple could borrow it. The city's records do not indicate whether the parish undertook this process on its own initiative, or by order of the Court.

The statue of St. John the Baptist reproduces a statue dating from 1890.

On November 27, 1706, lightning fell on the pointed spire of the bell tower; the lead cover melted, the frame began to burn. The bells were saved by surrounding them with sails of wet boats. The spire of the bell tower will be replaced by a small flat roof, tiles, temporary construction ... which still lasts.

The three large bays of the south wall and that of the north wall were opened in the years 1760 and 1761, on the advice of the painter Joseph Vernet.

During the French Revolution and the Wars of the Empire, the church served as a fodder store and then as a military hospital. The interior of the building then suffers damage and depredations whose effects would not be erased for a long time. The works of the following centuries will not change the overall structure of the church. In 1884, the walls of the choir and the vault, hitherto whitewashed and decorated with gilded wooden festoons, were covered with brightly painted motifs of neo-Gothic inspiration.

The church was classified as a Monument historique on March 7, 1931.^[6]

Gallery

• 
  Interior
• 
  Exterior
• 
  The organ
• 
  The pulpit

References