Église Saint-Barthélemy de Cahors, Catholic church in Cahors, France

Saint-Barthélemy Church is a Catholic place of worship in the town of Cahors, with walls from the 12th century still standing. The building shows a tall square bell tower at the entrance, a carved stone facade, and high vaulted ceilings with pointed arches inside, alongside wooden fittings and paintings from several periods.

The church was first known under the name of Saint-Étienne, but from the early 14th century people began calling it Saint-Barthélemy. By 1320 the building was in poor condition, and Pope John XXII, who had been baptized there, encouraged its rebuilding, with work on the vaults continuing into the 1400s.

The church was first dedicated to Saint-Étienne; the name Saint-Barthélemy only gradually replaced it from the early 14th century. Pope John XXII was baptised here, which is why he pushed for its reconstruction after 1320. In 1321 Jeanne de Frézapa was allowed to build a chapel, and Pierre Duèze (1324) and his son Arnaud (1332) founded chaplaincies there.

The church stands in the Lot department within the commune of Cahors, in the town centre. The oldest section, a 12th-century wall fragment, is worth locating before examining the rest. The building has been classified as a monument historique since 1933, and several paintings and reliquaries are listed in the Palissy database, so look for these among the furnishings.

The harmonium at the gallery has 54 keys, ten registers and two large pedals driving a Barker mechanical blower; it comes from the firm Merry and Son's. The organ case above it is by John Abbey, not Jean-Baptiste Stoltz, and its front pipes are silent dummies of tin and lead alloy, 8 feet (2.64 m) tall.