Chapelle Saint-Fiacre
MonumentHidden Treasure
Chapelle Saint-Fiacre, located in Le Faouët (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
- Le Faouët, Département 56, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.0141, -3.4868
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00091190
A jewel of the Breton flamboyant Gothic style, the chapel of Saint-Fiacre in Le Faouët dazzles with its 15th-century carved stone rood screen, an absolute masterpiece of stone lacework in inland Brittany.
History
In the heart of the Faouët region, in this deep Morbihan where chestnut forests rub shoulders with wild rivers, the chapel of Saint-Fiacre stands like a timeless apparition. Dedicated to the patron saint of gardeners, it belongs to that family of Breton rural chapels which, far from being cathedrals, boast a truly astonishing artistic wealth. Here, there is no architectural humility: the popular faith was expressed with a magnificence that still confounds even the most seasoned visitor. What irremediably sets Saint-Fiacre apart from all the other chapels in the region - and there are many in this Morbihan region, which is rich in medieval buildings - is its rood screen, considered to be one of the finest in the whole of Brittany. This stone screen, sculpted in the 15th century, separates the choir, reserved for the clergy, from the nave, which is open to the faithful. Its flamboyant Gothic style and almost insolent finesse rival the greatest masterpieces of French medieval lapidary art. The experience of visiting the church is as much one of spiritual contemplation as of artistic contemplation. As you pass through the porch with its sculpted arches, your eyes adjust to the golden half-light filtered through the stained glass windows, before the rood screen emerges in all its complexity: foliage scrolls, full-length figures, twisted columns - a whole iconographic programme that slowly unfolds, painting by painting. The exterior setting adds to the enchantment. The chapel is set in a typical Breton parish enclosure, with its ossuary and calvary, surrounded by kersanton and vegetation that changes character with the seasons. In spring, the tall grasses rustle around the granite crosses; in autumn, the chestnut trees cast their incomparable amber light on the walls. Listed as a historic monument since 1889, the Saint-Fiacre chapel alone embodies the extraordinary wealth of heritage in the Le Faouët region, where the chapels of Sainte-Barbe and Notre-Dame du Crann offer a medieval devotional circuit that is unique in France.
Architecture
Saint-Fiacre chapel has the elongated Latin cross floor plan typical of Breton rural chapels of the late flamboyant Gothic period: a single nave flanked by aisles, a slightly projecting transept and a choir with a flat or polygonal chevet, all covered by a wooden panelled roof. The load-bearing walls are made of local granite, the king material of inland Morbihan, whose bluish-grey tones give the building a mineral austerity that is counterbalanced by the luxuriance of the sculpted decoration. The roof, made of Anjou slate as is customary in Brittany, has a steep slope dictated by the region's rainy climate. The most important architectural feature of Saint-Fiacre is its stone rood screen, which is renowned far beyond the region's borders. This tripartite clerestory screen features a sculpted programme of exceptionally rich iconography: scenes from the life of Christ and Saint Fiacre, foliage, figures, coats of arms and heraldic motifs follow one another in a rigorous composition that the imagination of the Breton chisel brings to life. The three-lobed arches and flamboyant gables that crown it testify to a total mastery of the late Gothic repertoire. The western porch, framed by pinnacles and braced arches, is a theatrical introduction to the interior space. Inside, the stained glass windows - some of which date back to the 15th century - project a coloured light onto the stonework, transforming the spatial quality of the nave. All the liturgical furnishings - polychrome wooden statues, kersanton altars and granite baptismal fonts - make up an interior of rare stylistic coherence, an intact testimony to Breton devotion in the Middle Ages.
Related Figures
Saint Fiacre (VIIe siècle) — ermite irlandais éponyme de la chapelle, patron des jardiniers et guérisseurs, vénéré dans toute la BretagneLes seigneurs de Toulbodou — famille noble du pays du Faouët probablement à l'origine du financement de la chapelle au XVe siècleLes maîtres-tailleurs du jubé (XVe siècle) — sculpteurs anonymes bretons auteurs du jubé flamboyant, parmi les plus grands artisans de leur époqueProsper Mérimée — inspecteur général des monuments historiques, dont l'action nationale conduisit au classement de la chapelle en 1889Les verriers médiévaux (XVe-XVIe siècles) — ateliers anonymes auteurs des vitraux dont certains sont parmi les plus anciens du Morbihan
Tags
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Chapelle Saint-Fiacre located?
Chapelle Saint-Fiacre is located in Le Faouët, Département 56 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Chapelle Saint-Fiacre built?
Chapelle Saint-Fiacre dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Chapelle Saint-Fiacre open to visitors?
Chapelle Saint-Fiacre is currently closed to visitors.