Église Notre-Dame-du-Bout-du-Pont de Pau, church located in Pyrénées-Atlantiques, in France
Église Notre-Dame-du-Bout-du-Pont de Pau is a Catholic church in Pau located at the bridge's end. The building is registered in the general heritage inventory and functions as a place of worship for the community.
A chapel dedicated to "Nouste Dame deü Cap deü Pount" stood here since the founding of Pau; shepherds invoked the Virgin before crossing the gave, and pregnant women prayed to her. In 1922 Canon Hourcade bought an aviation-field barrack to house the 13th-century statue. When the Ursulines' neo-Gothic chapel (blessed 27 June 1873) was demolished for the Palais des Pyrénées, architect Henri Navarre had it dismantled stone by stone and rebuilt here between 1929 and 1932; the church was inaugurated on 18 December 1932.
The name comes from the Gascon "Nouste Dame deü Cap deü Pount", an oratory where shepherds prayed before crossing the gave and pregnant women prayed for a safe birth. Jeanne d'Albret sang the Notre-Dame song there before the birth of the future Henri IV. The 13th-century statue of the Vierge now stands in the church.
The church stands at the corner of rue Marcel-Barthe and rue du Général-Dauture in the 14-Juillet district, on the Jurançon side of the Pont du 14-Juillet over the gave de Pau. The stone porch with balustrade at the right end marks the entrance; a metal fence and hedge run along the street front. Masses are held here, but the building belongs to the parish of Notre-Dame-de-l'Espérance in Jurançon, so opening times should be confirmed with that parish.
The 13th-century statue of Nouste Dame deü Cap deü Pount, invoked by shepherds crossing the gave and by pregnant women, was kept in a wooden aviation-field barrack bought by canon Hourcade in 1922 before the church replaced it. The church also reuses Litany of the Virgin stained glass from the Ursulines chapel, set into the west rose window and the choir.
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