Eglise Saint-Jean-Baptiste, Medieval church in Bourbourg, France

Église Saint-Jean-Baptiste is a light beige and grey stone church in Bourbourg with a long main body under a shallow pitched roof and a square stone tower above the crossing, topped by a slender cupola and cross. At the right end, a polygonal Gothic chevet with tall pointed windows, heavy buttresses and a steep slate roof closes the building. The west portal of the 13th century has a pointed arch, a rare example of the transition between Romanesque and Gothic art.

The oldest parts date from around 1250, built at the initiative of the Abbey of Saint-Bertin in Saint-Omer. The Gothic choir was added in the 13th century, lateral naves in the 16th, and a brick bell tower in the 17th; the tower collapsed in 1739 and took fifteen years to repair. Damaged in April 1918 and devastated on 25 May 1940, the nave reopened in 1962 and the restored choir was inaugurated in October 2008. The choir has been classified as a monument historique since 1920.

The church's name comes from John the Baptist, its patron, whose image forms the keystone of the Gothic choir vault. Three large choir windows narrate his life, with the baptism of Christ at the centre, while twelve others depict events in Bourbourg's religious history, such as the 1383 attack on the Notre-Dame statue and the 1940 fire.

The Gothic choir, restored and inaugurated in October 2008, is separated from the nave by a wall and functions as its own chapel, holding Anthony Caro's work Le Choeur de lumière. The nave reopened for worship in 1962, so the two parts are entered and experienced separately. The west portal of the 13th century, with its pointed arch, faces the paved street lined with short posts.

The choir, restored in 2008, is separated from the nave by a wall and serves as a chapel holding Anthony Caro's artwork "Le Choeur de lumière". The church also keeps a 15th-century carved wooden shrine of Notre-Dame, recalling the 1383 miracle when a Breton mercenary struck the statue and, by legend, it bled and he fell dead.