Chapelle et calvaire de Locmaria
MonumentHidden Treasure
Chapelle et calvaire de Locmaria, located in La Chapelle-Neuve (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
- La Chapelle-Neuve, Département 56, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 47.8493, -2.9561
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00091152
In the heart of inland Brittany, the Locmaria chapel boasts a Gothic Latin cross floor plan and a calvary with an octagonal shaft dating from the 16th century, both of which are jewels of Breton rural piety and have been classified as Historic Monuments.
History
Nestling in the deep bocage countryside of Morbihan, at La Chapelle-Neuve, the chapel of Locmaria belongs to that family of Breton rural shrines that have dotted the byways since the Middle Ages. Its very name - Locmaria, meaning "place of Mary" in Breton - reflects the devotion that led to its foundation, a devotion that has never completely died out. Far from the beaten tourist track, it offers those who know how to find it an intimate encounter with Breton Gothic in all its ornate sobriety. The building's most striking feature is its western façade, a veritable showcase for the art of Breton stonemasonry in the late 15th century: a pointed-arch portal with torus mouldings wrapped around columns with capitals, all framed by a relief border resting on two strikingly expressive sculpted masks. These stone faces, half-human and half-fantastic, are a reminder that the medieval imagination was never far away, even in the most humble places of devotion. A few steps from the chapel, the calvary completes the ensemble with an architectural elegance that is rare for a monument of this scale. Its circular base, square mid-section and octagonal shaft bear witness to a level of formal care that goes far beyond the simple wayside cross. The sculpted Christ on one side and the Virgin on the other have been in silent dialogue with the seasons and visitors for over five centuries. To visit Locmaria is to agree to slow down. The site lends itself to a meditative pause, far from the hustle and bustle. Photographers will appreciate the low-angled morning or evening light that highlights the sculpted relief of the gateway and the silhouette of the Calvary against a backdrop of hedged farmland. Families and fans of Romanesque and Gothic art will find much to marvel at here, while hikers can include this site on a walking tour in the heart of deep Morbihan.
Architecture
The chapel at Locmaria adopts the Latin cross plan, the canonical form of medieval religious architecture, here adapted to a village scale that in no way detracts from the rigour of its composition. Most of the sculpted ornamentation is to be found on the west facade: the pointed arch portal, a Gothic solution par excellence, is embellished with torus mouldings - projecting cylindrical strips - running around columns with capitals, in an ornamental vocabulary that was widespread in Morbihan at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries. The most remarkable feature of this portal is its relief border, which is set on two sculpted masks whose expressiveness - somewhere between medieval grotesque and Breton popular imagery - gives the whole a unique character. The calvary, erected in the 16th century in the immediate vicinity of the chapel, has a careful architectural composition in three registers: a circular base, ensuring stability and visual anchorage in the ground, topped by a transitional element with a square cross-section, and then a slender octagonal shaft. This geometric progression from circle to octagon, a figure symbolically associated with the passage between the earthly world and the divine, is recurrent in Breton funerary and devotional art. The top cross bears the two theologically complementary figures of Christ on the Cross and the Virgin Mary, in a bifacial arrangement that invites the faithful to walk around it, transforming contemplation into an act of ritual wandering.
Related Figures
Maîtres maçons bretons anonymes du XVe siècle, bâtisseurs de la chapelleTailleurs de pierre morbihannais du XVIe siècle, auteurs du portail sculpté et du calvaireMembres de la confrérie ou communauté paroissiale fondatrice de LocmariaInspecteurs des Monuments Historiques ayant instruit le classement de 1935Architectes du patrimoine ayant supervisé les campagnes de restauration du XXe siècle
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Chapelle et calvaire de Locmaria located?
Chapelle et calvaire de Locmaria is located in La Chapelle-Neuve, Département 56 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Chapelle et calvaire de Locmaria built?
Chapelle et calvaire de Locmaria dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Chapelle et calvaire de Locmaria open to visitors?
Chapelle et calvaire de Locmaria is currently closed to visitors.