Chapelle du Loch
MonumentHidden Treasure
Chapelle du Loch, located in Peumerit-Quintin (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
- Peumerit-Quintin, Département 22, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.3681, -3.3121
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00089387
Nestling in the heart of inland Brittany, the Chapelle du Loch features remarkable 16th-century sculpted sandstones and mysterious altars carved from a large granite altarpiece, testimony to Breton art of rare delicacy.
History
Deep in the wooded hills that separate the Côtes-d'Armor from Finistère, the chapel of Le Loch stands in the discreet village of Peumerit-Quintin like an unspoilt jewel box of stone. Far from the main tourist routes, it is one of a constellation of rural Breton chapels that time has spared, and whose sober exterior gives no hint of the sculpted treasures hidden within. What sets the Loch chapel apart is the extraordinary quality of its carved sablières. These horizontal pieces of wood that run under the roof frame, decorated with human figures, fantastic animals, plant motifs and popular or devotional scenes, are characteristic of the Breton craftsmanship of the 16th and 17th centuries. Here, the chisels of local carpenters have produced a continuous decoration that transforms a visit to the nave into a veritable visual interpretation of the faith and beliefs of the period. The two altars that make up the liturgical furnishings also deserve the visitor's full attention. Probably made up of reconstituted fragments of a large granite altarpiece, they bear witness to the wealth of local devotion, which at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries did not hesitate to commission ambitious works in carefully crafted Breton granite. The dispersal or dismemberment of an altarpiece into several parts is a well-documented phenomenon in the Breton countryside, often linked to post-Tridentine liturgical changes. A visit to the chapel at Le Loch is an ideal way to explore Kreiz-Breizh, a region of central Brittany with wildly gentle landscapes, where every sunken path holds a surprise in store. Lovers of sacred art and of medieval and Renaissance sculpture will find plenty of food for thought here, while photographers will appreciate the subdued light filtering through the windows and gently revealing the relief of the sandpits.
Architecture
The Loch chapel has the simple, compact layout typical of Breton rural chapels of the 16th and 17th centuries: a single nave, a flat or slightly projecting chevet, and a wall-belfry or small bell tower on the west façade. The masonry is probably made of local granite, a material that is ubiquitous in Central Brittany and whose robustness goes some way to explaining why the building has been well preserved over the centuries. The chapel's most remarkable architectural feature is its sculpted runners, the long horizontal pieces of wood where the walls meet the roof structure. Characteristic of Breton art in the 16th and 17th centuries, they feature a continuous and abundant decoration combining grotesque figures, characters in period costume, foliage and narrative scenes of religious or secular inspiration. This type of ornamentation, which can be found in many chapels in Finistère and Côtes-d'Armor, reaches a quality of execution here that fully justifies heritage protection. The interior furnishings include two remarkable altars, made up of fragments of a large, finely sculpted granite altarpiece. These pieces, probably part of a larger altarpiece that had been dismantled or reassembled when the liturgy was reorganised, bear witness to the mastery of local stonemasons in working with granite, a thankless material, but here carved with a precision and delicacy worthy of the best regional workshops.
Related Figures
Artisans charpentiers bretons anonymes du XVIe siècle, auteurs des sablières sculptéesTailleurs de pierre locaux du XVIIe siècle, créateurs du retable en granitCommanditaires paroissiaux ou seigneuriaux de Peumerit-Quintin, fondateurs de la chapelleInspecteurs des Monuments Historiques ayant instruit le dossier d'inscription en 1930
Tags
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Chapelle du Loch located?
Chapelle du Loch is located in Peumerit-Quintin, Département 22 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Chapelle du Loch built?
Chapelle du Loch dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Chapelle du Loch open to visitors?
Chapelle du Loch is currently closed to visitors.