Église Saint-Martin

The church of Saint-Jacques occupies the site of a former chapel of the same name, built in 1651 by the Cordeliers order. In 1860, a popular subscription was launched in order to build a real church in place of the ageing Saint-Jacques chapel. Thanks to the success of the subscription, work on the church could begin in July 1861 under the direction of the architect Émile Loupot. The work was finally completed in 1868, three years before the inauguration of St. Martin's Church.

The sanctuaries of Lourdes are the largest Catholic pilgrimage centre in France. The origin of this pilgrimage goes back to the vision of Bernadette Soubirous, who declared that she had seen the Virgin eighteen times since 1858. The Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary was built from 1883 to 1889 on the plans of Léopold Hardy and consecrated in 1901. The Basilica of the Immaculate Conception was consecrated in 1876; and the Basilica of Saint Pius X in 1958.

The first Christian basilica in Tarbes was probably built at the end of the 4th century. In 844, the Normans ravaged Gascony: the city and its church were destroyed, the episcopal seat abandoned. It was not until the 11th century that a new cathedral was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The texts then tell us about the cathedral of Sainte-Marie- de-la-Sède (from the Latin sedes: the seat, i. e. the place of residence of the bishop) or Sainte-Marie-de-Bigorre. The cathedral was completely rebuilt between the end of the 12th century and the beginning of the 13th century. The construction site, spread over a hundred years, was built from east to west. The choir and arms of the transept were built in Romanesque style. Along with Saint-Sever-de-Rustan, Saint-Orens-en-Lavedan and Saint-Savin-en-Lavedan, Tarbes Cathedral is one of the four most important Romanesque churches in Bigorre.