St. Andrew's Church is a neo-Gothic parish church in central Bayonne. The church was designed by architects Hippolyte Durand and Hippolyte Guichenné and built in the neo-Gothic style between 1856 and 1869, under Napoléon III's reign. It was built on the site of a former Jansenist high school. Its construction was mainly funded by a bequest from banker Jacques Taurin de Lormand, who died in 1847. The town council allocated additional money for ending the works and purchasing furniture. The church was consecrated on March 7, 1862. The Capuchins' Church neighboring St Andrew's was demolished.
On December 13, 1895, the vault partly collapsed on the organ lofts because the ground was swampy. The 74-meter-high spires, which were too heavy, were demolished in 1901 and replaced by the two current belfry towers in 1903.
In the shape of a Latin cross, the church's design was inspired from the 13th-century Gothic churches with two front towers and an imposing rosette over the doors. It has three ribbed naves.
The inside of the church features a painting by Léon Bonnat (1833-1922) of Bayonne, which represents the Assumption of Mary. Another painting by Joseph Pascau (1875-1944) of Bayonne shows the Holy Family. The pipe organ was donated by Napoléon III in 1862 and inaugurated on April 9, 1836.
References:The Broch of Gurness is an Iron Age broch village. Settlement here began sometime between 500 and 200 BC. At the centre of the settlement is a stone tower or broch, which once probably reached a height of around 10 metres. Its interior is divided into sections by upright slabs. The tower features two skins of drystone walls, with stone-floored galleries in between. These are accessed by steps. Stone ledges suggest that there was once an upper storey with a timber floor. The roof would have been thatched, surrounded by a wall walk linked by stairs to the ground floor. The broch features two hearths and a subterranean stone cistern with steps leading down into it. It is thought to have some religious significance, relating to an Iron Age cult of the underground.
The remains of the central tower are up to 3.6 metres high, and the stone walls are up to 4.1 metres thick.