Chapelle de Lansalaün de Notre-Dame de Folgoat
MonumentHidden Treasure
Chapelle de Lansalaün de Notre-Dame de Folgoat, located in Paule (Département 22), 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
- Paule, Département 22, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.2541, -3.4682
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00089364
Nestling in the Breton countryside, this 16th-century chapel boasts a bell tower with an octagonal spire, a side aisle with exposed roof timbers and a votive fountain under a pointed gable - a discreet jewel in the crown of popular devotion in Argoat.
History
In the heart of the Corlay region, in the commune of Paule, the Lansalaün chapel of Notre-Dame de Folgoat stands out as one of those secret places that inland Brittany reserves for travellers who know how to get away from the main roads. Modest in size, it nonetheless has an architectural coherence and a spiritual charge that will touch even the visitor least familiar with Breton religious traditions. Its very name - which evokes the famous basilica of Folgoat, in Finistère - bears witness to a Marian devotion rooted throughout the Breton region. What makes this chapel truly unique is the way in which its elements complement each other: the two-storey stone bell tower crowned by a sober octagonal spire sits alongside a nave with a square apse, the interior of which reveals a fine exposed timber frame typical of Armorican carpentry workshops during the Renaissance. The aisle, leaning back like an arm outstretched towards the farming community that built it, amplifies the space without weighing down the overall volume. Outside, the calvary and the votive fountain under its pointed gable shelter form a coherent whole, reminding us that Breton sacred space was not limited to the walls of the building itself. The fountain, a place of pilgrimage and healing in the popular imagination, invites us to meditate on the intimate relationship between water, faith and the land that the Bretons have cultivated for centuries. The visit is short but dense, ideal for those wishing to immerse themselves in Breton rural religious architecture in its rawest authenticity. There's no gilding or pomp: here, it's the grey stone, dark wood and filtered light from the windows that create the atmosphere. Photographers and architectural draughtsmen will find it a richly visual subject, particularly at sunset, when the low-angled light highlights the joints in the masonry and the ribs in the roof timbers.
Architecture
The Lansalaün chapel of Notre-Dame de Folgoat is a simple, functional building, typical of Breton rural religious buildings of the 16th century. It consists of a single nave with a square apse - a common architectural solution in inland Armorica, in contrast to the polygonal apses of coastal flamboyant Gothic - flanked by a side aisle that enlarges the space for worship without fundamentally altering the exterior silhouette. The side aisle is covered by a carefully crafted exposed timber frame, whose purlins and crossbeams are a fine example of fine carpentry. Outside, the ashlar bell tower is the focal point of the building. It is two storeys high and crowned by a slender octagonal spire, a recurring motif in Breton Renaissance bell towers, which sought to reconcile Romanesque solidity with the elegance of new forms from Italy and the Loire. The local granite cladding, typical of buildings in the Argoat region, gives the whole structure a harsh grey tone that is in tune with the landscape. The exterior enclosure complements the building harmoniously: a calvary sculpted in the tradition of Breton workshops and a votive fountain sheltered beneath a pointed gable aedicula - a form that echoes in miniature the Gothic vocabulary of the chapel itself. This fountain-chapel-chapel ensemble forms a highly coherent rural "sacred triptych", a precious testimony to the organisation of the popular religious space in central Brittany in the 16th century.
Related Figures
Fondateurs laïques anonymes de la communauté de Paule (XVIe siècle), à l'origine du financement de la chapelleMaîtres maçons et charpentiers armoricains du XVIe siècle, artisans inconnus de la constructionRecteurs successifs de la paroisse de Paule, gardiens de la dévotion mariale liée à Notre-Dame de FolgoatMembres des confréries villageoises du canton de Corlay, qui entretenaient les pardons et le pèlerinage à la fontaineInspecteurs des Monuments Historiques ayant instruit le dossier de classement de 1920
Tags
Nearby castles
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Chapelle de Lansalaün de Notre-Dame de Folgoat located?
Chapelle de Lansalaün de Notre-Dame de Folgoat is located in Paule, Département 22 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Chapelle de Lansalaün de Notre-Dame de Folgoat built?
Chapelle de Lansalaün de Notre-Dame de Folgoat dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Chapelle de Lansalaün de Notre-Dame de Folgoat open to visitors?
Chapelle de Lansalaün de Notre-Dame de Folgoat is currently closed to visitors.
