Ancienne église Saint-Lunaire
ChurchHidden Treasure
Ancienne église Saint-Lunaire, located in Saint-Lormel (Département 22), is a Renaissance château built in the 16th century. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- Church
- Period
- Renaissance (16th century)
- Location
- Saint-Lormel, Département 22, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.5360, -2.2282
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00089643
Nestling in the Breton hedgerows of Saint-Lormel, this ancient church reveals a Romanesque doorway with capitals adorned with masks and a flamboyant Gothic doorway featuring a lion and a chimera. A miniature of stone and mystery.
History
In the heart of the Penthièvre region, in the discreet market town of Saint-Lormel, stands an ancient church whose modest size contrasts with the richness of its sculpted decoration. Dedicated to Saint Lunaire - the Welsh monk who evangelised Brittany in the 6th century - the church's façade encapsulates a thousand years of Breton sacred art, from the purest Romanesque to the most inventive Flamboyant Gothic. What makes this monument unique is precisely the way its two portals are linked together. To the west, the 12th-century Romanesque doorway imposes its sober majesty: carefully carved capitals display human or hybrid masks, faces frozen between a smile and terror, a direct legacy of the Romanesque stonemasons who populated their works with apotropaic creatures to ward off evil. To the south, the 15th-century portal is a radical departure: a heraldic lion and a fantastic chimera interact in the stone, bearing witness to a medieval Brittany fascinated by bestiaries and chivalric tales. A visit to Saint-Lormel's Saint-Lunaire church is like an open-air art history lesson, without the crowds of the big tourist sites. You can take your time to observe each sculpted detail, decipher the animal symbols and feel the grain of the granite under your fingers. The building, now desanctified, retains an atmosphere of contemplation that centuries have patiently woven together. The setting adds to the magic of the place. Saint-Lormel, a rural commune in the Côtes-d'Armor region, offers an environment of sunken lanes, hedgerows and bell towers lost in the greenery, typical of this inland Brittany that is sometimes forgotten behind the successful coastlines. The church fits into this landscape with a discretion that suits it perfectly, inviting you to stroll slowly and attentively.
Architecture
The former Saint-Lunaire church in Saint-Lormel has the sober architecture typical of rural Breton buildings in the Middle Ages. The layout, probably with a single nave or a single nave flanked by a side aisle, met the needs of a modest parish community. The walls, built of local granite rubble - a hard, grey stone that is ubiquitous in the buildings of the Côtes-d'Armor region - give the building a squat, solid silhouette that is rooted in the Armor region. The western facade is home to the building's Romanesque jewel: a portal with a semi-circular arch whose historiated capitals display a gallery of sculpted masks. These faces, carved into the granite with remarkable expressiveness given the hardness of the material, illustrate the skills of the Breton Romanesque workshops of the 12th century, heirs to the techniques of the great abbeys of the Loire and Normandy. The voussoirs, probably decorated with torus and billets, frame this stone bestiary with rigour. The south portal, added at the end of the 15th century in a flamboyant Gothic style, introduces a different decorative dynamic. The presence of a lion and a chimera in relief bears witness to a bestiary iconography characteristic of the late Middle Ages in Brittany, which can be found in several parish enclosures and church porches in the region. The roof, with its steep slope to evacuate the frequent rains of the Breton climate, is probably covered in slate, a regional material par excellence.
Related Figures
Saint Lunaire (Léonor) — moine gallois du VIe siècle, évangélisateur de Bretagne, saint patron de l'égliseSaint Iltud — maître de saint Lunaire, figure centrale du christianisme celtique insulaireArtisans romans anonymes du XIIe siècle — tailleurs de pierre auteurs des chapiteaux à masquesSculpteurs gothiques du XVe siècle — auteurs du portail au lion et à la chimèreMinistère des Affaires culturelles — institution ayant prononcé l'inscription MH en 1964
Tags
Nearby castles
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Ancienne église Saint-Lunaire located?
Ancienne église Saint-Lunaire is located in Saint-Lormel, Département 22 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Ancienne église Saint-Lunaire built?
Ancienne église Saint-Lunaire dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Ancienne église Saint-Lunaire open to visitors?
Ancienne église Saint-Lunaire is currently closed to visitors.
