Parish Church of St Eulalia

J.-.Alaux. Eglise Sainte-Eulalie. 1831
Musée des Beaux Arts de Bordeaux M 6204.
© Mairie de Bordeaux. L. Gauthier

Up until the 14th century, the parish church of St Eulalia was set apart from the town. We know very little about the first monastery built on this site. Later chronicles mention the existence of an abbey of women, founded by the Merovingian king Dagobert (629-639). The church takes the name St Eulalia from a young virgin martyred in Spain at the start of the 3rd century AD. This monastery was burned by the Saracens in 732. A legend attributes to Charlemagne in 811 the construction of a chapel to hold the relics of the seven martyred saints of Lectoure (Lot) at the end of the 1st century AD.

In the 12th century, a new church was built to welcome pilgrims en route to Santiago de Compostela. It was consecrated in 1174 in the presence of Henry II, King of England and Duke of Guyenne. The Roman building, having no doubt become too small, was destroyed to make room for a flamboyant Gothic construction. At the start of the Revolution, it was used to store works of art from other churches in the town. St Eulalia, thanks to its successive programmes of restorations and the numerous modifications carried out since the end of the Middle Ages, provides a precious account of the important stylistic trends of religious architecture throughout the centuries.