Croix du 17e siècle
MonumentHidden Treasure
Croix du 17e siècle, located in Plussulien (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
- Plussulien, Département 22, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.2823, -3.0708
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00089533
In the heart of Plussulien, this 17th-century cemetery cross, adorned with a moving Breton granite Pietà, has watched over the church square since the cemetery that surrounded it disappeared.
History
Standing in the church square in Plussulien, in the Côtes-d'Armor region of Brittany, this seventeenth-century cemetery cross is one of those discreet monuments that you brush past without always realising its depth. Listed as a historic monument by decree since 1926, it alone embodies popular fervour and the skills of Breton stonemasons of the modern era. What immediately sets this cross apart from the multitude of rural calvaries dotted around inland Brittany is the presence of a Pietà sculpted from local granite. This depiction of the Virgin Mary holding the body of Christ coming down from the cross is strikingly sober, typical of Breton sacred art: the pain is not dramatised, but condensed in the grey stone with an austerity that is more moving than any Baroque pathos. The history of this monument is inseparable from that of the surrounding landscape. Once the sentinel of a parish cemetery that no longer exists, the cross survived the redevelopment of the village and now stands in the open air in the square next to the church. This change of context gives it a presence that is both solemn and strange, as if the memory of the dead whom it once watched over continues to inhabit the stone. To visit this cross is to stop off in deep, authentic Brittany, far from the beaten tourist track. The village of Plussulien, in the heart of the Côtes-d'Armor region, preserves a rural and timeless atmosphere where this type of monument takes on its full meaning. The low-angled morning light or the heavy autumn skies of Brittany magnify the grain of the granite and bring out the sculpted details of the Pietà with particular intensity. For the attentive visitor, this cross is an invitation to reflect on the way in which a community perpetuates the memory of its dead, transforms its sacred spaces and adapts its heritage to the changing times. It also testifies to the unsuspected wealth of Breton rural villages, where each church square often conceals a forgotten stone treasure.
Architecture
The Plussulien cross belongs to the great tradition of Breton calvaries and cemetery crosses, whose heyday was between the 15th and 17th centuries. Carved in the characteristic grey granite of the Côtes-d'Armor region, it displays the robustness and formal sobriety typical of the lapidary art of inland Brittany, quite distinct from the iconographic profusion of the great parish enclosures of Finistère. The most remarkable carving is the Pietà adorning the cross. This depiction of the Virgin of Pity, holding the inert body of Christ on her knees, is treated with an economy of means characteristic of 17th-century Breton rural workshops: the volumes are simplified, the drapery stylised, but the expression of maternal pain shines through with striking truth in the very rigidity of the stone. Granite, a thankless material for fine detail, gives the sculpture a monumentality and durability that are perfectly suited to the memorial function of the work. The cross rests on a shaft and base of cut granite, in a classic vertical composition that is in keeping with well-documented regional typologies. The proportions of the whole, which reflect a concern for balance between the mass of the base and the slenderness of the cross, are a representative and well-preserved example of Breton funerary and devotional furniture from the Grand Siècle.
Related Figures
Tailleurs de pierre bretons du XVIIe siècle — artisans anonymes auteurs de la sculpture de la PietàCuré de Plussulien au XVIIe siècle — commanditaire probable de la croix pour l'ornement du cimetière paroissialInspecteurs des monuments historiques (1926) — responsables de la reconnaissance et de la protection officielle de la croix
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Croix du 17e siècle located?
Croix du 17e siècle is located in Plussulien, Département 22 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Croix du 17e siècle built?
Croix du 17e siècle dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Croix du 17e siècle open to visitors?
Croix du 17e siècle is currently closed to visitors.