Fontaine Saint-Brieuc, ou Notre-Dame
MonumentHidden Treasure
Fontaine Saint-Brieuc, ou Notre-Dame, located in Saint-Brieuc (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
- Saint-Brieuc, Département 22, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.5164, -2.7686
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00089584
In the heart of Saint-Brieuc, this 15th-century Gothic aedicula combines a sacred fountain and an oratory on the legendary site where Saint Brieuc founded the city, with its sculpted arcatures and stone roof.
History
Nestling in the urban fabric of Saint-Brieuc, the Saint-Brieuc fountain - also known as the Notre-Dame fountain - is one of those monuments that reconciles the sacred and the everyday with medieval grace. A small 15th-century Gothic aedicule, it stands out less for its size than for the density of its history and the quality of its workmanship: moulded arcatures, delicate sculptures, buttresses crowned with pinnacles, monolithic stone roof - so many features that make it a masterpiece of Breton heritage. What makes this monument truly unique is the superposition of uses it has embodied for six centuries. A living water fountain on one side, a votive oratory on the other, it was both a meeting point for the local people and a place of devotion for pilgrims. Its layout is irresistibly reminiscent of a church porch, creating a rare architectural ambiguity that pleasantly confuses visitors: are we looking at a religious or a civil building? The answer, of course, is both. The experience of visiting is that of a parenthesis out of time. Backing onto a chapel rebuilt in the nineteenth century, the other three sides of the aedicula open onto the public space through arcatures that invite you to enter its cool shade. The sculptures that adorn these arches - hieratic figures, plant motifs - deserve meticulous attention, revealing the skills of Breton stonemasons in the late Middle Ages. The surrounding setting adds to the uniqueness of the visit. Saint-Brieuc, a town of character with steep streets overlooking the bay, offers this monument a lively urban setting. The fountain is part of a network of memorial sites linked to the city's founding saint, for which it is the symbolic and spiritual starting point. Listed as a Historic Monument since 1928, its protection guarantees the continued existence of this exceptional example of Breton Gothic art and piety.
Architecture
The Saint-Brieuc fountain is a late Gothic aedicula of particularly refined design for a building of this scale. Its general layout is reminiscent of a church entrance porch: three sides open onto the outside through moulded and sculpted arcatures, the fourth leaning against the neighbouring chapel. This tripartite organisation creates a covered intermediate space, both sheltered and permeable, which functions as an antechamber between the secular space of the street and the contemplative space of the oratory. Arcatures are the dominant decorative element. Their cavet and torus mouldings, typical of the Breton flamboyant Gothic style, frame sculptures whose themes - probably figures of saints, plant and heraldic motifs - are part of the iconographic repertoire of 15th-century Armorican art. The corners of the structure are reinforced by projecting buttresses that rise up into pinnacles, giving the whole a strong verticality despite its modest size. This upward thrust, characteristic of the Gothic aesthetic, is skilfully balanced here so as not to overwhelm the human scale of the building. The stone roof is a notable technical feature. Carved from local granite, this vault or stone slab requires real structural mastery, the weight of the stone imposing stresses that the buttresses and arcatures are precisely calculated to absorb. The materials, typically Breton - grey granite with bluish reflections - anchor the monument in its geological territory and give it the luminous austerity typical of Gothic architecture in the Armorican peninsula.
Related Figures
Saint Brieuc (Ve siècle) — moine gallois évangélisateur de l'Armorique, fondateur légendaire de la cité et de l'oratoire primitif à l'emplacement de la fontaineCommanditaires anonymes du XVe siècle — bourgeois, chanoines ou édiles de Saint-Brieuc ayant financé la construction de l'édicule gothiqueArchitectes et tailleurs de pierre bretons du XVe siècle — artisans inconnus dont le savoir-faire se lit dans les arcatures moulurées et les sculpturesÉdouard Corroyer (1835-1904) — inspecteur général des Monuments historiques ayant contribué à la reconnaissance du patrimoine gothique breton à la fin du XIXe siècleAuteur de la reconstruction de la chapelle attenante (XIXe siècle) — architecte non identifié ayant intégré le bâti néogothique au site médiéval
Tags
Nearby castles
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Fontaine Saint-Brieuc, ou Notre-Dame located?
Fontaine Saint-Brieuc, ou Notre-Dame is located in Saint-Brieuc, Département 22 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Fontaine Saint-Brieuc, ou Notre-Dame built?
Fontaine Saint-Brieuc, ou Notre-Dame dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Fontaine Saint-Brieuc, ou Notre-Dame open to visitors?
Fontaine Saint-Brieuc, ou Notre-Dame is currently closed to visitors.
