Église Sainte-Croix

The church was restored in the 19th century and later the outbuilding and former Benedictine abbey housed the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, which it remains today.

This church, which is dedicated to the Holy Cross (Latin "Santa Croce"), relates its patron saint to the cross on which Jesus Christ died. The veneration of the Holy Cross goes back in large part to Saint Helena, who was the mother of Emperor Constantine the Great (who, after his victory at the "Milvian Bridge" outside Rome, recognized Christianity as a religion and in 312 the long time of persecution ended with the Milan “Tolerance Edict”). In the early fourth century she undertook a pilgrimage to the Holy Land (Israel / Palestine) and brought numerous relics from there to Europe, including the "True Cross" on which Jesus Christ was crucified. Helena is therefore often depicted with a cross as an attribute. The church celebrates the feast of the discovery of the Holy Cross – called “Exaltation of the Cross” – on September 14th.

A particularly interesting detail of the church is the bell tower. It originally belonged to Bouffay Castle, which was demolished in 1843. The clock located on the northern tower was built into the bell tower when it was built, as was the 8t bell cast in 1663.