Chapelle de Coat-Am-Podou
MonumentHidden Treasure
Chapelle de Coat-Am-Podou, located in Melgven (Département 29), is a Renaissance château built in the 16th century. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Period
- Renaissance (16th century)
- Location
- Melgven, Département 29, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 47.9258, -3.8476
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00090112
Nestling in the woods of Finistère, the Coat-Am-Podou chapel boasts a sculpted granite façade of rare elegance, with its chimera gables and openwork bell tower - a jewel of Breton flamboyant Gothic.
History
In the heart of the commune of Melgven, in deep Finistère, the chapel of Coat-Am-Podou stands out as one of the most refined religious buildings in the Cornouaille region. Its name, which literally means "ditch wood" in Breton, evokes the intimate, wooded setting in which it has taken root over the centuries. Listed as a historic monument since 1949, it is a remarkably coherent example of Breton architectural art from the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. What immediately sets Coat-Am-Podou apart from the many other rural chapels in Brittany is the exceptional quality of its granite sculptures. Each façade seems to have been worked with the care of a goldsmith: the grimacing chimeras, the chiselled finials, the flamboyant networks of geminated bays make up a fantastic bestiary and an ornamental grammar of a density that is rare for a building of this scale. The contrast between the intrinsic hardness of the local granite and the apparent lightness of the Gothic forms it supports is in itself a technical tour de force. Inside, the space is surprisingly harmonious. The nave, divided into five bays by two rows of four round granite columns, offers a peaceful and luminous interior perspective. Stone dominates, but it is enlivened by a subtle interplay of volumes that gives the building an authentic spiritual presence. Visitors will feel the special contemplative atmosphere of Breton chapels, halfway between Christian sacredness and an older spirituality linked to the land and rural customs. The natural setting further enhances the unique character of the site. Surrounded by trees and dense vegetation, the chapel seems to emerge from the forest like a medieval apparition preserved from time. Photographers and lovers of rural heritage will find the soft, seasonally-changing light here conducive to the most evocative shots.
Architecture
The Coat-Am-Podou chapel has a rectangular floor plan with three naves and a sober, efficient layout: a central nave flanked by two aisles, divided into five bays by two rows of four round granite columns. This architectural approach, common in Breton chapels of some importance, gives the interior an immediate legibility and a certain majesty, despite its modest dimensions. The exterior concentrates most of the artistic interest of the building. All the façades are built entirely of ashlar granite, with sculpted decoration of the highest quality. The south facade, which is particularly well executed, opens out through two basket-handle portals - a characteristic form of late Gothic and the transition to the Renaissance - and features two gables decorated with chimeras and fleurons framing third-point mullioned windows with flamboyant tracery, a true signature of Breton Gothic art at its most ornate. The west facade adopts the same vocabulary, with a basket-handle portal topped by a gable with fleurons, and crowned by an elegant openwork bell tower topped by an octagonal spire that gives the building its characteristic silhouette. Local granite, the king material of Breton architecture, is used here with remarkable skill. Its granular texture and silvery-grey hue mean that the chapel blends in perfectly with its wooded surroundings, while at the same time offering a surface that captures and diffuses light differently depending on the time of day and the season. The overall style is Breton flamboyant Gothic, with influences that reflect the continuity of medieval traditions over several generations of builders.
Related Figures
Seigneurs de Coat-Am-Podou — familles nobles locales ayant fondé et patronné la chapelle aux XVe-XVIe sièclesMaîtres tailleurs de pierre bretons — artisans anonymes responsables des sculptures en granit des façadesRecteurs de la paroisse de Melgven — clercs ayant assuré le culte dans la chapelle au fil des sièclesMembres de la Commission des Monuments Historiques — ayant instruit et accordé le classement de 1949Érudits bretonnants du XIXe siècle — antiquaires et archéologues régionaux ayant signalé l'intérêt de l'édifice
Tags
Nearby castles
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Chapelle de Coat-Am-Podou located?
Chapelle de Coat-Am-Podou is located in Melgven, Département 29 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Chapelle de Coat-Am-Podou built?
Chapelle de Coat-Am-Podou dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Chapelle de Coat-Am-Podou open to visitors?
Chapelle de Coat-Am-Podou is currently closed to visitors.
