Manoir de Kerbourvellec
ManorHidden Treasure
Manoir de Kerbourvellec, located in La Chapelle-Neuve (Département 56), is a Renaissance château built in the 16th century. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- Manor
- Period
- Renaissance (16th century)
- Location
- La Chapelle-Neuve, Département 56, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00091156
An enigmatic vestige of the Morbihan region, the Kerbourvellec manor house reveals its dormer windows with scalloped pediments and sculpted fireplaces, silent witnesses to Breton nobility between the Renaissance and the Classical Ages.
History
Lost in the bocage of La Chapelle-Neuve, in the heart of rural Morbihan, the Kerbourvellec manor house belongs to that rare category of dignified ruins, those that have not entirely capitulated to time but which resist, fragment by fragment, to oblivion. Its rectangular floor plan, its courtyard of honour, which is still clearly visible, and its ornate dormer windows bear witness to a real architectural ambition, that of a noble Breton family anxious to display its rank in stone. What sets Kerbourvellec apart from many other Breton manor houses of the same period is the remarkable quality of its sculpted ornamentation. The two dormer windows with circular pediments, with their bas-relief shells framing armorial bearings, reveal a skilful hand and a demanding patron. These classicist details, which appeared in Brittany during the 17th century under the influence of the great royal building projects, give the building a restrained elegance that is almost surprising for a country manor house deep in the Armorican peninsula. The experience of the visit is that of a living archaeology. You walk through an area where buildings and vegetation have reached a fragile armistice. Traces of the once enclosed wall, the orphaned pilasters of the entrance gate and the staircase turret at the back of the dwelling form an architectural grammar that the visitor's imagination is happy to add to. Two rooms per floor, fireplaces with carved hoods that have survived the centuries: the intimacy of seigneurial life is still apparent. The natural setting adds to the atmosphere of the place. La Chapelle-Neuve, a discreet village in central Morbihan, offers a landscape of meadows and soft moorland, typical of this inland Brittany that is too often ignored by traditional tourist routes. It's here that heritage is experienced without crowds or signposts, in a direct and almost intimate relationship with history.
Architecture
The Kerbourvellec manor house has a compact rectangular layout, typical of Breton manor houses from the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. Organised around a main courtyard, the enclosure of which by a wall is no more than a visible memory in the topography of the land, bears witness to a design that was both defensive and representative. The remains of the gateway, with its pilasters still standing, suggest a well-groomed entrance, deliberately monumental to assert the status of its owners. The main façade is the most eloquent architectural document on the site. Two dormer windows with circular pediments, adorned with shells sculpted in bas-relief, pierce the roof and frame armorial bearings engraved on the lintels. This classicist decorative vocabulary, with its French and Italian influences, contrasts with the general sobriety of the granite walls, a universal Breton building material. At the rear of the dwelling, a polygonal or cylindrical turret houses the stairwell serving the upper floors, a common technical solution in seventeenth-century Breton manor houses that opens up the interior space while creating an architectural feature that can be identified from afar. The interior, as it can still be seen today, consisted of two rooms on each level, a classic bipartite layout that separated the reception area from the private space. The monumental fireplaces, several of whose hoods have survived, are the centrepieces of the interior décor. Their mouldings and any sculpted motifs reflect the ornamental fashions of the 15th and 17th centuries, providing an unintentional catalogue of the evolution of taste over two centuries of seigneurial occupation.
Related Figures
Famille de Kerbourvellec — lignée noble bretonne probable fondatrice et première occupante du manoir au XVe siècleSeigneurs de La Chapelle-Neuve — élite locale dont les membres purent posséder ou fréquenter le domaine aux XVIe-XVIIe sièclesMaîtres maçons bretons du XVIIe siècle — artisans anonymes auteurs des lucarnes à coquilles et des cheminées sculptéesPropriétaires de la période classique — commanditaires de la campagne de modernisation du XVIIe siècle ayant introduit le décor classicisant
Map
Coordinates not available for this monument.
Tags
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Manoir de Kerbourvellec located?
Manoir de Kerbourvellec is located in La Chapelle-Neuve, Département 56 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Manoir de Kerbourvellec built?
Manoir de Kerbourvellec dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Manoir de Kerbourvellec open to visitors?
Manoir de Kerbourvellec is currently closed to visitors.