Domaine de Kerlivio (également sur commune de Kervignac)
CastleHidden Treasure
Domaine de Kerlivio (également sur commune de Kervignac), located in Brandérion (Département 56), is a Renaissance château built in the 16th century. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- Castle
- Period
- Renaissance (16th century)
- Location
- Brandérion, Département 56, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 47.7914, -3.2006
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00091815
Three centuries of Breton nobility in a single estate: Kerlivio combines a medieval manor house, a classical château and an elegant 19th-century residence in a romantic park attributed to the Bühler brothers.
History
Nestling between the communes of Brandérion and Kervignac, in deep Morbihan, the Kerlivio estate is one of the rare seigneurial complexes in Brittany to offer, in a single location, the legible superimposition of six centuries of architecture and aristocratic life. Where most estates have only preserved a single architectural state, Kerlivio reveals three faces of the French noble residence, from the medieval manor house to the romantic château, like so many strata of a continuous history. The originality of the estate lies precisely in this intimate coexistence between the ages. The foundations of the first 15th-century manor house are still visible under the vegetation, guarded by a squat dovecote that was, in its day, the ostentatious symbol of seigneurial privilege. Next to it, the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century manor house, built on these ruins, unfurls its wise volumes, embellished by a hexagonal clock tower and a light-filled orangery - all characteristic appendages of the French art of living under the Ancien Régime. The nineteenth-century château, built between 1820 and 1850 for the Count of Perrien de Crenan, embodies the ambition and taste of the Restoration nobility, keen to assert its permanent place in the Breton landscape. Its orderly silhouette contrasts pleasantly with the more rustic tone of the old buildings that surround it. The landscaped grounds that surround it are a work of art in themselves. Laid out around 1850 and attributed to the famous Bühler brothers - the landscape architects who also designed the parks at Versailles, the Bois de Boulogne and many other French towns - it features winding paths, carefully composed flowerbeds and rare species that make every walk a botanical discovery as much as a journey back in time. Protected as a Historic Monument since 1992, the Kerlivio estate will appeal to lovers of architectural and landscape heritage, enthusiasts of Breton history and anyone seeking to understand how a great noble family inhabited, transformed and passed on a place over more than five centuries.
Architecture
The Kerlivio estate is characterised by the juxtaposition of three distinct architectural entities, around which the whole site is organised. The remains of the 15th-century medieval manor house - foundations in local granite and a dovecote with multiple niches - form the historical anchor point of the complex. The dovecote, circular in plan as is customary in Brittany, has a trappist, rustic silhouette typical of seigneurial buildings of the late Armorican Middle Ages. The 17th-18th century manor house, built in two successive campaigns on the ruins of the first building, adopts the sober, solid vocabulary of classical Breton architecture: ashlar granite elevations, steeply pitched roofs covered with local slate, and a regular arrangement of bays. The hexagonal clock tower, an 18th-century addition, adds a welcome touch of fantasy to the composition; its six-sided shape, unusual for a Breton pleasure tower, gives it a very special elegance. The orangery, which backs onto the main building, features large bay windows framed by pilasters, typical of the late Louis XV style. The nineteenth-century château (1820-1850), commissioned by the Count of Perrien de Crenan, adopts the canons of Romantic neo-classicism: symmetrical facades, low-sloped slate roof, large windows with small panes of wood, emphasised cornice. The English-style park designed by the Bühler brothers, with its winding paths, open lawns, groves of varied species and carefully composed perspectives, envelops the whole in a green setting where time seems to stand still.
Related Figures
Comte de Perrien de Crenan — commanditaire du château actuel (1820-1850) et du parc paysagerDenis Bühler — paysagiste, co-auteur du parc avec son frère Eugène vers 1850Eugène Bühler — paysagiste, collaborateur de son frère Denis, auteurs de nombreux parcs françaisSeigneurs médiévaux de Kerlivio — famille noble bretonne fondatrice du premier manoir au XVe sièclePropriétaires du XVIIe siècle — bâtisseurs du second manoir sur les ruines de l'édifice médiéval
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Domaine de Kerlivio (également sur commune de Kervignac) located?
Domaine de Kerlivio (également sur commune de Kervignac) is located in Brandérion, Département 56 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Domaine de Kerlivio (également sur commune de Kervignac) built?
Domaine de Kerlivio (également sur commune de Kervignac) dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Domaine de Kerlivio (également sur commune de Kervignac) open to visitors?
Domaine de Kerlivio (également sur commune de Kervignac) is currently closed to visitors.