Eglise Saint-Alban
ChurchHidden Treasure
Eglise Saint-Alban, located in Elven (Département 56), 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
- Elven, Département 56, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 47.7326, -2.5904
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00091178
In Elven, the church of Saint Alban hides a Renaissance treasure beneath its modern exterior: breathtakingly fine sculpted aprons, populated by curled angels, chimeras and portraits in 16th-century costume.
History
Nestling in the heart of Elven, a village in the Morbihan department just a few leagues from Vannes, the church of Saint Alban is one of those monuments that holds some of its finest surprises in store for those who cross its threshold. While its sober façade suggests nothing exceptional, the interior reveals a sculpted programme of rare richness for a 16th-century Breton rural church. What makes Saint-Alban truly unique are its sablières - the horizontal timbers that run under the roof - carved entirely from wood with a mastery worthy of the great workshops of the French Renaissance. Two superimposed registers create a veritable sculpted theatre: at the bottom, grinning chimeras support virgin shields, while foliage scrolls intertwine human heads, garlands of foliage and birds; at the top, curly-haired angels emerge as if from a fictitious balcony, holding shields, flanked by figures in Renaissance costume who seem to be coming forward to look at us. This gallery of sculpted portraits is disturbingly modern: these expressive faces and half-bodied silhouettes in the clothes of the time are more reminiscent of a tableau vivant or a royal court bas-relief than the expected decoration of a Morbihan chapel. You can see the influence of the artistic currents that were sweeping through France from Italy at the time, adapted by Breton craftsmen of remarkable skill. The tour, which is both intimate and thoughtful, takes on an almost archaeological dimension: every detail of the sandpits deserves to be examined with a spyglass raised, in order to decipher the imagination and symbolism of an anonymous 16th-century craftsman. The ancient apse, the only remaining vestige of the original medieval building, is a reminder of the site's long history.
Architecture
Saint Alban's church has a simple longitudinal plan, typical of Breton parish churches of modest size. Its exterior architecture, which was extensively altered in the 19th and 20th centuries, has a sober, functional appearance that contrasts strikingly with the richness of the interior decoration. Only the apse, a vestige of the earlier medieval building, bears witness to the age of the site. It is inside that the monument's architectural and artistic interest lies. The runners - the beams used to support the roof structure - are carved on wood to an exceptional standard, in two superimposed registers separated by a moulding. The lower register displays an abundant ornamental repertoire: heraldic chimeras supporting shields, foliage filled with human heads, garlands of foliage and fruit, naturalistic birds - all motifs that bear witness to direct knowledge of the engravings and models distributed from the Loire and Fontainebleau. The upper register, which is more narrative, presents a gallery of half-body figures dressed in Renaissance costume: curly-haired angels holding non-armorial shields, and various human figures, men and women, in a variety of attitudes reminiscent of the painted portraits of the Clouet school. The overall style is reminiscent of the Breton Renaissance, where late-Gothic ornamental fantasy blends with the decorative vocabulary imported from Italy via the French royal building sites.
Related Figures
Saint Alban de Verulamium — martyr romano-britannique du IIIe siècle, patron de l'église, dont le culte fut introduit en Armorique par les immigrants bretons insulairesArtisans sculpteurs bretons du XVIe siècle — maîtres charpentiers et imagiers anonymes auteurs des sablières, probablement formés dans les ateliers actifs autour de Vannes et de la région morbihannaiseFabriciens et donateurs de la paroisse d'Elven — commanditaires du programme sculpté au XVIe siècle, dont les écus non armoriés sur les sablières suggèrent peut-être une prudence délibérée ou une destination originellement prévue pour des armoiries jamais ajoutées
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Eglise Saint-Alban located?
Eglise Saint-Alban is located in Elven, Département 56 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Eglise Saint-Alban built?
Eglise Saint-Alban dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Eglise Saint-Alban open to visitors?
Eglise Saint-Alban is currently closed to visitors.