Croix du 18e siècle
MonumentHidden Treasure
Croix du 18e siècle, located in Trédarzec (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
- Trédarzec, Département 22, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.7870, -3.1990
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00089677
Érigée au XVIIIe siècle dans le cimetière de Trédarzec, cette croix monumentale en granite breton incarne la ferveur religieuse des Côtes-d'Armor, classée Monument Historique depuis 1927.
History
At the heart of the parish cemetery in Trédarzec, a modest village in the Côtes-d'Armor region nestling between Tréguier and Paimpol, stands a funerary cross whose grey granite silhouette dominates the surrounding headstones with Breton sobriety. Far from the ostentation of the great urban monuments, this cemetery cross says a great deal, in very few words, about the deep-rooted spirituality of the rural populations of Trégor in the Age of Enlightenment - a time when popular faith was still expressed with undiminished vigour despite the new winds blowing in from Paris. What makes this cross so special is precisely the combination of the ruggedness of the local material and the delicacy of the work of the stonemasons. Eighteenth-century Breton craftsmen excelled in the art of carving granite, a rock reputed to be ungrateful, into strikingly expressive faces of Christ and the Virgins. The cross at Trédarzec is part of the long tradition of calvaries and cemetery crosses that have dotted the Breton landscape since the Middle Ages, forming a network of spiritual and community landmarks that parishioners maintained with jealous care. To visit the Trédarzec cross is to take a timeless break in a cemetery with a contemplative atmosphere, where the ancient vegetation and gravestones carved in Breton add to the depth of the place. The attentive traveller will be able to read the sculpted motifs - skulls, crossed bones, stylised tears, Christian symbols - as many pages in a stone book devoted to the human condition and Christian hope. The village of Trédarzec itself is well worth a visit: set against the valley of the Jaudy, it offers a landscape of hedged farmland typical of inland Trégor, far from the hustle and bustle of the coast but only a few kilometres from Tréguier and its majestic Gothic cathedral. The cross is part of an area with an exceptionally rich heritage, where every place of worship and every roadside cross tells the story of several centuries of religious and popular history.
Architecture
The cemetery cross in Trédarzec is typical of the work produced by the stonemasons' workshops of the Trégor region in the 18th century. Carved from local granite, it has the classic profile of Breton funerary crosses: a smooth or slightly moulded shaft resting on a stepped plinth with a square base, designed to anchor the monument firmly in the cemetery ground and give it an imposing visual presence despite its modest dimensions. The sides of the plinth generally feature funerary inscriptions or symbols of death - skull and crossbones, hourglass - treated with an iconographic frankness typical of Breton Baroque funerary art. The cross, whose arms often end in slight bulges or stylised fleurons, has at its centre a Christ on the Cross sculpted in the round or in high relief, rendered with the expressive sobriety typical of rural workshops in the Trégor region. The reverse of the cross may feature a Virgin of Sorrow or a symbol of the Passion, according to local iconographic tradition. The silver-grey patina of the granite, marked by lichen and the passing of the seasons, lends the whole a serene dignity that blends naturally with the plant and mineral surroundings of the cemetery. From a stylistic point of view, the cross is a late Breton popular baroque, where the influences of the great classical art merge with a more archaic local craft tradition. In this type of monument, we find the same creative tension as in the great parish calvaries of the 16th and 17th centuries, concentrated and refined in a format suited to the funerary space.
Related Figures
Artisans tailleurs de pierre du Trégor (XVIIIe siècle), auteurs anonymes de la sculptureClergé paroissial de Trédarzec, commanditaires probables du monumentMembres de la fabrique d'église de Trédarzec, garants de l'entretien de la croixInspecteurs des Monuments Historiques ayant instruit le dossier d'inscription en 1927Érudits et folkloristes bretons du XIXe siècle ayant documenté les croix du Trégor
Tags
Nearby castles
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Croix du 18e siècle located?
Croix du 18e siècle is located in Trédarzec, Département 22 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Croix du 18e siècle built?
Croix du 18e siècle dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Croix du 18e siècle open to visitors?
Croix du 18e siècle is currently closed to visitors.
