Chapelle Saint-Gonéry
MonumentHidden Treasure
Chapelle Saint-Gonéry, located in Plougras (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
- Plougras, Département 22, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.5112, -3.5566
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00089479
Perched high up in the Côtes-d'Armor region, the Saint-Gonéry chapel in Plougras captivates visitors with its sculpted 16th-century sandstones, a veritable stone novel in which biblical scenes and Breton life mingle under a panelled vault.
History
In the heart of Brittany's Trégor region, the Saint-Gonéry chapel rises up from the discreet village of Plougras in a silhouette of dressed granite. A monument to popular devotion as much as a half-open-air work of art, it concentrates in just a few dozen square metres the essence of the constructive and decorative genius of 16th-century Brittany. Its openwork stone bell tower, soaring like a frozen prayer, can be seen from the surrounding sunken lanes and heralds an architecture that the sobriety of the exterior only hints at. It is inside that the chapel reveals its true nature. The vaulted ceiling of painted panelling is home to carved runners with a rare wealth of iconography: grotesque figures, scenes from the Gospel, commoners at their daily jobs, fantastic animals - all vignettes carved from oak with a knife, turning the nave into an open book on Breton society during the Renaissance. This woodwork is one of the best-preserved series of sandpits in the department, a discreet rival to the famous parish enclosures of Finistère. The experience of visiting the site is one of intimate discovery. There are no crowds or tourist coaches here: the Saint-Gonéry chapel is open to anyone who takes the trouble to stray from the signposted routes. The silence of the Trégorois bocage envelops the building, with soft light filtering through the tri-lobed windows. It's easy to linger on each sandstone, trying to decipher the stories carved into the dark wood, to identify a face, a gesture, a scene of ploughing or fishing. The setting heightens the emotion. Plougras is a village in the Costarmorican hinterland, a stone's throw from the Monts d'Arrée massif, in a landscape of moorland and hedged farmland that centuries seem to have spared. The chapel, surrounded by its modest enclosure, is part of this quiet permanence. Photographers in search of low-angled light, lovers of medieval art and walkers in the Argoat will all find something to suit them.
Architecture
The chapel of Saint-Gonéry is part of the late Breton style of religious architecture, faithful to the Gothic canons in its Latin cross plan but with a few Renaissance inflections in its decorative treatment. Constructed entirely of dressed granite - the king material of the Armorican massif, both sober and hard-wearing - it comprises a single nave, two transept arms and a choir ending in a flat chevet, a rational layout common to Breton rural chapels of the 16th century. The western elevation forms the main façade: its gable is pierced by a semi-circular portal framed by flat columns supporting a straight entablature, a solution that betrays at least an indirect knowledge of the vocabulary of classical antiquity. The slopes of the gable are decorated with sculpted hooks, a persistent flamboyant Gothic motif. At the top, a square bell tower topped by an openwork stone spire adds an elegant verticality to the building's silhouette. The south gable of the transept opens onto a round-headed window with a three-lobed infill, a characteristic combination of the two formal vocabularies in vogue. The interior reveals the centrepiece of the chapel: the painted wood panelled vault resting on sculpted runners with a remarkable wealth of iconography. These continuously decorated beams - religious scenes, popular figures, symbolic animals - run the length of the nave and choir, transforming the framework into a veritable medieval comic strip. The quality of the relief and the diversity of the subjects covered make these sablières among the finest examples of woodcarving in inland Brittany.
Related Figures
Saint Gonéry — moine irlandais évangélisateur du Trégor, Ve-VIe siècle, patron titulaire de la chapelleMaîtres maçons locaux anonymes du XVIe siècle — bâtisseurs de l'édifice en granit appareilléSculpteurs sur bois anonymes du XVIe siècle — auteurs des sablières iconographiquesFabrique paroissiale de Plougras (1787) — commanditaires des travaux de restauration pré-révolutionnaires
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Chapelle Saint-Gonéry located?
Chapelle Saint-Gonéry is located in Plougras, Département 22 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Chapelle Saint-Gonéry built?
Chapelle Saint-Gonéry dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Chapelle Saint-Gonéry open to visitors?
Chapelle Saint-Gonéry is currently closed to visitors.