Chapelle de Locmaria
MonumentHidden Treasure
Chapelle de Locmaria, located in Plouay (Département 56), 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
- Plouay, Département 56, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 47.8893, -3.3962
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00091512
Nestling in the Morbihan region of Brittany, this 16th-century Breton chapel captivates visitors with its sablières sculpted with expressive heads and its elegant door with braces, discreet jewels of popular flamboyant Gothic art.
History
In the heart of the Plouay region of deep Morbihan, the Locmaria chapel is one of those buildings that you come across almost by chance, at the bend in a sunken path, and which leave a lasting impression. Modest in size, it nonetheless conceals a wealth of ornament that betrays the care with which Breton craftsmen of the 16th century invested even the most humble shrines. What makes Locmaria truly unique is the quality of its interior framework. The runners - the horizontal pieces of wood on which the rafters rest - are adorned with sculpted heads whose expressions oscillate between medieval grotesquerie and touching naivety. This iconographic repertoire, typical of Renaissance Brittany, combines human figures, grimacing masks and hybrid creatures in a decorative profusion that contrasts with the austerity of the single nave. A visit to this chapel is an invitation to slow down. Light filters softly through the pointed-arch window in the east gable wall, bathing the interior in a diffused light that highlights the patina of the carved wood. You take your time to observe, to look for details in the half-light that your first glance misses - a face hidden in the shadow of a raven, a fantastic animal nestling at the start of the west gable wall. The exterior setting also contributes to the charm of the place. Locmaria is part of the bocage landscape of central Morbihan, where rural chapels still dot the country lanes like so many spiritual and community landmarks. The building, which has been protected as a Historic Monument since 1975, bears witness to the vitality of popular religion in Brittany at the end of the Middle Ages and the dawn of modern times.
Architecture
The chapel at Locmaria follows the most common layout used in Breton rural religious architecture: a single nave, with no aisles or transept, covered by a wooden gable roof. This simple layout, which was cheap to build and easy to maintain, enabled farming communities to provide their hamlets with functional places of worship without using up considerable resources. The walls, probably of dressed granite - a material that is ubiquitous in Morbihan - give the building the sturdiness characteristic of Breton constructions. The most remarkable feature of the interior is undoubtedly the roof frame, whose runners are decorated with sculpted heads. This type of decoration, common in 16th-century Breton chapels, required the skills of local carpenters and sculptors who drew on an iconographic repertoire combining realistic or grotesque human figures, real or fantastical animals and stylised plant motifs. The same decorative vein can be seen on the exterior gables: on the west gable, a fantastic animal adorns the north end of the banisters, while a bust of a man with a highly stylised head marks the south end, symbolically guarding the building. The side door deserves particular attention: its arched lintel, surmounted by a Gothic brace, is a piece of architectural sculpture of undoubted quality for a building of this scale. This form of brace - two inverted curves meeting at a point - is characteristic of the Breton flamboyant Gothic style of the late 15th and early 16th centuries. The east gable, pierced by a window with a pointed arch, completes this resolutely Gothic architectural vocabulary, rooted in a building tradition that continued in Brittany long after the Renaissance had conquered the rest of the kingdom of France.
Related Figures
Artisans charpentiers-sculpteurs bretons du XVIe siècle (auteurs anonymes des sablières ornées)Commanditaires locaux du XVIe siècle (seigneurs ou confréries dévotionnelles de Plouay)Fidèles des pardons de Locmaria (communautés rurales du pays de Plouay, XVIe-XIXe siècle)Inspecteurs des Monuments Historiques ayant instruit la protection (arrêté du 3 juin 1975)
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Chapelle de Locmaria located?
Chapelle de Locmaria is located in Plouay, Département 56 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Chapelle de Locmaria built?
Chapelle de Locmaria dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Chapelle de Locmaria open to visitors?
Chapelle de Locmaria is currently closed to visitors.