Chapelle Notre-Dame des Trois-Fontaines
MonumentHidden Treasure
Chapelle Notre-Dame des Trois-Fontaines, located in Gouézec (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
- Gouézec, Département 29, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.1470, -4.0108
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00089974
Nichée dans le Finistère profond, cette chapelle bretonne du XVe siècle conjugue calvaire Renaissance, vitraux anciens et fontaine sacrée dans un écrin de granit d'une poésie saisissante.
History
In the heart of the Glazig region, between Châteaulin and Briec, the chapel of Notre-Dame des Trois-Fontaines is one of those discreet treasures of Breton heritage that you come across along a sunken lane and never forget. Built of dark granite and covered in bluish slate, it is the embodiment of the rural religious architecture so characteristic of Finistère: sober on the surface, with an unsuspected richness as soon as you look. What really sets this monument apart is the remarkable superimposition of its historical layers. The 15th-century gateway opens onto an interior space where 16th-century stained glass windows of astonishing chromatic freshness, an 18th-century bell tower added with restraint, and a Calvary dating from 1554 whose figures frozen in stone still recount, with raw expressivity, the drama of Golgotha. This accumulation is not disorderly: it is the living palimpsest of a popular faith that has been built up century after century. The fountain, an inseparable element of the site, gives the whole an almost mythical dimension. Its pointed archway houses a spring whose water, with its healing properties according to local tradition, continues to attract pilgrims during the annual pardon. A statuette of the Virgin Mary stands watch at the back of the niche, a reminder that these Breton places of worship are also living places, shaped by popular faith as much as by history. Visiting the church is an intimate and contemplative experience. The oblong south-facing gabled porch provides a gentle transition between the outside world and the sacred space. Inside, the half-light filtered through the ancient stained glass windows creates an atmosphere conducive to contemplation. The attentive visitor will notice the sculpted bases, the pillar bases worn by centuries of genuflections, and the traces of successive alterations that make this chapel a veritable manual of Breton religious architecture. The natural setting adds to the enchantment: the wooded hills of the Montagnes Noires as a backdrop, the silence broken only by the murmur of the spring and the birdsong make up a picture of gentle melancholy, typically Armorican.
Architecture
The Notre-Dame des Trois-Fontaines chapel has an elongated floor plan typical of late Breton Gothic architecture, comprising a single nave flanked by a north aisle, a transept with little projection and a polygonal apse that harmoniously closes off the interior. The entire building is built of granite, a material that is ubiquitous in Finistère, whose bluish grey hue absorbs the light and gives the whole structure a medieval gravity. The deep blue-black slate roof is perfectly in keeping with the Armorican building tradition. The western facade is the first architectural highlight. Its soberly moulded 15th-century portal opens under a slightly broken pointed arch. Above, the 18th-century bell tower, squat and covered by a small dome with a lantern, adds a more classical touch. On the south side, the 15th-century gabled porch, with its oblong floor plan and interior stone benches, enabled the faithful to gather before services and to shelter the civil acts that frequently took place on the doorstep of Breton chapels. The gables, whose finials have unfortunately disappeared, nevertheless retain their characteristic jagged silhouette. Inside, the 16th-century stained glass windows are a major treasure: their compositions with figures and their chromatic range of deep reds and blues bear witness to a high-quality Breton workshop, sensitive to the iconographic contributions of the Renaissance without abandoning medieval conventions. The exterior Calvary from 1554, with its thief and its weeping Saint Magdalene carved in kersanton or granite, illustrates Breton sculpture at its most mature. Finally, the fountain, with its pointed archway partially covering the spring, is a moving architectural motif on the borderline between the sacred and the vernacular.
Related Figures
Les maîtres maçons bretons anonymes du XVe siècle, bâtisseurs de la chapelle initialeLes verriers du XVIe siècle, auteurs des vitraux du transept et de l'absideLe sculpteur du calvaire de 1554, héritier de la grande tradition des ateliers bretonsLes recteurs successifs de la paroisse de Gouézec, gardiens de l'édifice au fil des sièclesLes fonctionnaires des Monuments Historiques ayant instruit les classements de 1922 et 1927
Tags
Nearby castles
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Chapelle Notre-Dame des Trois-Fontaines located?
Chapelle Notre-Dame des Trois-Fontaines is located in Gouézec, Département 29 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Chapelle Notre-Dame des Trois-Fontaines built?
Chapelle Notre-Dame des Trois-Fontaines dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Chapelle Notre-Dame des Trois-Fontaines open to visitors?
Chapelle Notre-Dame des Trois-Fontaines is currently closed to visitors.
