Eglise Notre-Dame
ChurchHidden Treasure
Eglise Notre-Dame, located in Pommerit-le-Vicomte (Département 22), is a Renaissance château built in the 16th century. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- Church
- Period
- Renaissance (16th century)
- Location
- Pommerit-le-Vicomte, Département 22, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.6200, -3.0877
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00089537
At Pommerit-le-Vicomte, the bell tower of Notre-Dame raises its octagonal openwork spire into the Breton sky - a masterpiece of balance between medieval sobriety and 17th-century classical elegance.
History
In the heart of the Trégor region, in the Côtes-d'Armor, the church of Notre-Dame de Pommerit-le-Vicomte stands out for one of those Breton bell towers that condense, in just a few metres of stone, several centuries of history and expertise. Although the nave was rebuilt in the early 20th century, the old bell tower remains intact, and has been listed as a Historic Monument since 1926, making it a remarkable object of architectural study in its own right. What makes this bell tower truly unique is the dialogue it engages in between two aesthetic traditions that are, on the face of it, strangers to each other: the massive robustness of the Breton medieval tower and the ornamental grace of 17th-century classicism. The terrace with its ventral balusters, crowned by a finely openwork octagonal spire, seems to reconcile the stubborn granite of Brittany with the lessons of Paris and Rome. The west facade deserves particular attention: the door framed by Doric pilasters, topped by an entablature and a pediment with a bull's eye, reveals a skilful and cultured hand. Above, a square sculpted panel and a niche add an iconographic depth that is rare for a village church. Visitors first discover the church from the outside: turn around the bell tower, let their gaze rise from the Doric pilasters at the corners to the tip of the spire, and catch the play of light in the small rectangular windows on the upper floors. The rural setting of Pommerit-le-Vicomte, a discreet village in the Trégor region, adds a rare sense of tranquillity to this contemplation, far from the tourist crowds of the major Breton sites.
Architecture
The bell tower of Notre-Dame de Pommerit-le-Vicomte is a square tower made of granite, a material that is ubiquitous in Armorican Brittany, and is divided into several distinct storeys with contrasting personalities. The two upper storeys are deliberately sober, pierced only by small rectangular openings that give the whole an austere verticality, typical of the Breton medieval tradition. The real architectural wealth is concentrated on two levels. The west face of the bell tower is a highly complex composition: a doorway framed by pilasters with Doric capitals, topped by a rigorous entablature and a pediment with a cut edge - a rhetorical device used to insert a bull's eye into the interruption in the pediment - followed by a square sculpted panel and a niche. This facade is also punctuated by large Doric pilasters at the corners of the west face and at the north and south return corners, all crowned with a continuous entablature, which unify the composition and give it a classical legibility. At the top, the tower terminates in a terrace with ventral balusters - those squat balusters so characteristic of the Breton style - from which soars an openwork octagonal spire, whose delicate curve contrasts with the massiveness of the tower. It is this transition, from the terrace to the spire, that constitutes the most poetic moment of the bell tower: the Breton stone suddenly becomes lighter, resolutely turning its back on the earth to soar towards the sky.
Related Figures
Évêques de Tréguier — dont dépendait la paroisse de Pommerit-le-Vicomte, ils supervisaient les constructions religieuses du diocèse au XVIIe siècleMaître maçon inconnu du XVIIe siècle — concepteur probable du clocher, familier des traités d'architecture classiqueCurés de Pommerit-le-Vicomte — acteurs de la décision de reconstruction de la nef au début du XXe siècle tout en préservant le clocher ancienInspecteurs des Monuments Historiques (1926) — responsables de l'inscription protectrice du clocher
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Eglise Notre-Dame located?
Eglise Notre-Dame is located in Pommerit-le-Vicomte, Département 22 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Eglise Notre-Dame built?
Eglise Notre-Dame dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Eglise Notre-Dame open to visitors?
Eglise Notre-Dame is currently closed to visitors.