Religious heritage
A desire for sacred art
As is often the case in Brittany, it is in the region's religious heritage that the region's distinctive architectural features are best expressed. In addition to the 21 parish churches, there are around 80 chapels spread throughout the region, making a total of almost a hundred buildings.
Flamboyant Brittany
This high level of production reflects a period from the 15th to the 17th century when the Breton countryside was covered with places of worship thanks to the patronage of dukes and noble families. Some of the finest examples of 15th-century flamboyant Gothic architecture are directly linked to this patronage. The climate of prosperity that prevailed in the 16th and 17th centuries, as a result of the economic spin-offs from the cloth industry and buckwheat cultivation, also contributed to the proliferation of churches and chapels and to their embellishment.
One of the noble families who contributed to the development of high-quality artistic production was the Rohan family, whose vast fiefdom included what is now the canton of Guémené. Many chapels and churches bear the mark of this family, including the remarkable Notre-Dame de Kernascléden. In Le Faouët, the de Boutteville family were equally important patrons of the arts. Their taste for art and architecture is evident in the chapels of Saint-Fiacre and Sainte-Barbe.
Other small rural chapels also stand out for the quality of their architecture. Without naming them all, the chapel of Saint-Yves in Lignol is a good example of the flamboyant gothic style, as evidenced by its impressive bell tower with balcony. The chapel of Saint-Guen in Saint-Tugdual has regained its exceptional character, despite the arson attack in 2006.
The parish church and the chapels of Saint Hervé and Saint-Nicolas in Gourin form a single architectural unit. The chapel of Saint Hervé has a three-sided chevet characteristic of the Beaumanoir style. Originating in the Trégor region, this style also made its mark in Cornouaille. The chapel of Saint-Sébastien in Le Faouët and the church of La Trinité-Langonnet feature this particular chevet.
Woodcarving
The rood screens in the chapels of Saint-Fiacre in Le Faouët and Saint-Nicolas in Priziac are the best-known examples of wood carving, but the talent of the sculptors was also expressed in other mediums, in particular on structural elements such as runners.
Discreetly exposed to the eye because they are placed high up, sometimes in semi-darkness, these beams bear witness to the skills of ancient wood craftsmen who were able to adapt to the narrowness of the support. The decorative repertoire is rich and varied: figures that are disturbing, tragic, funny and sometimes, we must humbly admit, obscure, for us at the start of the 21st century. Around 25 churches and chapels in the area are adorned with carved sandstone beams.
Almost all the parish churches and the many privately-founded chapels belong to the great building period of the late fifteenth and first half of the sixteenth centuries, characterised by the flamboyant style.
Romanesque art
There are three exceptions, however, all belonging to a much older architectural movement: Romanesque art, which is less well represented in Brittany.
Hardly perceptible from the outside, successive alterations have obscured the original elevations. The sobriety of the style can still be seen inside the churches of Langonnet, Ploërdut and Priziac.
These three buildings also share some common features, a fact that has led some specialists to speculate that there may be a small school of Romanesque art in Central Brittany. They belong to a group that favoured geometric decoration. The church at Calan, geographically close to the Pays du Roi Morvan, is one such example. Its ornamental features bear many similarities to those of the other three buildings, particularly the church in Priziac.
See also
Inspirations and great experiences!
