Maison de Dinan
MonumentHidden Treasure
Maison de Dinan, located in Dinan (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
- Dinan, Département 22, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.4538, -2.0424
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00089098
In the heart of Dinan, this medieval timber-framed house bears witness to the Breton city's rich trading past. Listed as a Historic Monument since 1933, it embodies the architectural soul of one of Brittany's most beautiful medieval towns.
History
Nestling in the cobbled streets of Dinan, one of the best-preserved medieval towns in the whole of Brittany, this old house stands out as an authentic fragment of a rich urban past. Protected by law since 1933, it is part of the exceptional heritage fabric that makes the old town of Dinan an open-air journey back in time, where each façade tells the story of several centuries of history. The house is in the architectural tradition of half-timbered dwellings typical of the Dinan region. Its corbelled half-timbering, typical of medieval buildings and the Renaissance period in Brittany, forms a façade punctuated by the skilful geometry of the exposed beams. The overhanging storeys, far from being mere ornaments, bear witness to the building skills inherited from Breton shipwrights, renowned throughout Northern Europe for their mastery of wood. A visit to this residence is like letting yourself be carried away by the suspended time of Dinan's medieval alleyways. The rue de Jerzual, the craftsmen's quarter and the Place des Cordeliers form the unchanging backdrop against which this house takes on its full meaning. Photographers, history buffs and travellers in search of authenticity will find it a rare visual and emotional treasure, far removed from fake reconstructions. The setting in Dinan adds to the experience: the town, perched on a promontory overlooking the River Rance, retains its ramparts, towers and bourgeois houses with remarkable coherence. This house, listed as a protected building, is part of the homogeneous ensemble that has earned Dinan its reputation as one of the most intact medieval towns in France. It is both an individual monument and a piece of a larger urban jigsaw, whose collective value far exceeds the sum of its parts.
Architecture
The house is of the corbelled timber-framed type, typical of medieval and early Renaissance housing in Brittany. Its façade, structured by a network of exposed oak beams - runners, struts and corner posts - forms a geometric pattern that gives the building its instantly recognisable visual identity. The successive storeys overhang slightly onto the street, using the corbelling technique, which increases the living space while reducing the wind load on the lower façades. The infill between the load-bearing timbers is traditionally made of cob or clay bricks, while the roof is covered with schist slate, a favourite material in Breton architecture. The openings - windows with stone mullions or wooden crossbars, round-arched or bracketed doors depending on the period - punctuate the facade with a regularity that testifies to a keen sense of composition. Sculptures or ornaments carved into the roof timbers, where they exist, provide additional iconographic interest. The interior layout, typical of medieval merchant's houses, distributes the spaces in depth: a lower room on the street side, once dedicated to trade or crafts, and living rooms on the upper floors, served by a spiral staircase or a straight stairwell. The interior woodwork, often of the highest quality, is one of the most precious features of this type of residence, both in terms of its technical complexity and the quality of the oak used.
Related Figures
Bertrand du Guesclin — héros breton né près de Dinan vers 1320, dont la figure tutélaire plane sur toute la cité et son patrimoine médiévalVictor Hugo — visita Dinan en 1836 et s'enthousiasmait pour ses ruelles médiévales dans ses carnets de voyageProsper Mérimée — inspecteur général des Monuments Historiques, défenseur du patrimoine médiéval français et initiateur des premières protections légalesAnne de Bretagne — duchesse de Bretagne dont le règne (1488-1514) coïncide avec l'apogée de l'architecture civile dinannaiseJean de Dinan — seigneur et bâtisseur médiéval dont la famille a durablement marqué l'urbanisme de la cité bretonne
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Maison de Dinan located?
Maison de Dinan is located in Dinan, Département 22 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Maison de Dinan built?
Maison de Dinan dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Maison de Dinan open to visitors?
Maison de Dinan is currently closed to visitors.