Maison Renaissance située sur la place au Sud de l'église
MonumentHidden Treasure
Maison Renaissance située sur la place au Sud de l'église, located in Sarzeau (Département 56), 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
- Sarzeau, Département 56, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 47.5270, -2.7687
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00091731
In the heart of Sarzeau, this Renaissance house dating from 1622 boasts a granite dormer window of rare elegance: sculpted pilasters, escutcheon crowned with foliage and a circular pediment engraved with a date that defies the centuries.
History
Nestling in the southern square of the church in Sarzeau, Morbihan, this Renaissance house is one of the most discreet and precious examples of Breton civil architecture from the early 17th century. Far from the grandiloquence of the great stately homes, it embodies the elegance of the provincial bourgeoisie who, at the turn of the 1620s, sought to display their status through the quality of their ornamentation rather than the size of their buildings. What makes this house truly unique is its granite dormer, a masterpiece of sculpted composition on a reduced scale. Two pilasters frame a richly decorated frieze, surmounted by a circular pediment - a motif characteristic of the late Renaissance influence - on which the year 1622 is engraved. This precise dating is a rare boon for architectural historians: it anchors the building in a pivotal period when Italian forms, filtered through the Loire and Paris, were finally reaching Armorican shores. The coat of arms set into the frieze, framed by a wreath of foliage and flanked by two fins, is as intriguing as it is fascinating. This silent coat of arms - the arms of which have not been formally identified - suggests a patron of high status, perhaps a royal officer, a prosperous shipowner or a notable from the Rhuys peninsula, of which Sarzeau was the main town at the time and one of the maritime gateways to Morbihan. Listed as a Historic Monument since 1933, the house can be visited from the outside, which is enough to understand the essence of its architectural message. The facade, sober on the whole, leaves all its expressive power to the dormer window, which the attentive eye will be able to detail from the square. For photographers who love golden lights, the south-facing façade lights up magnificently in the late morning. Sarzeau itself is well worth a visit: the birthplace of the playwright Alain-René Lesage, the town retains its authentic character and close proximity to the Gulf of Morbihan and the Château de Suscinio, residence of the Dukes of Brittany. This Renaissance house is a natural part of an Armorican heritage itinerary, between sea and history.
Architecture
The building is in the tradition of Breton manor houses from the early 17th century, built in granite, a material that is ubiquitous in Morbihan. While the overall massing of the building remains sober and functional, the decorative effort is concentrated with great sophistication on the dormer window on the façade, a veritable architectural manifesto in miniature. This dormer is the focal point of the entire composition. Framed by two pilasters with antique capitals - a direct reference to the Italian-inspired Renaissance repertoire - it articulates several superimposed registers with a remarkable mastery of scale. The frieze, framed by two volute-shaped fins, features a sculpted escutcheon wrapped in an abundant wreath of naturalistic foliage, a highly characteristic motif of the late French Renaissance. The whole is crowned by a circular pediment - also known as a low pointed arch tympanum - on which is inscribed the date 1622 in Roman or Arabic numerals, a direct indication of the completion of the work. This type of circular pediment composition, borrowed from the vocabulary of the Italian Renaissance via Fontainebleau and the châteaux of the Loire, was rare in Brittany at the time. The granite used, a local material par excellence, gives the sculpture a slightly grainy texture that softens the edges of the mouldings and gives the whole a golden-grey patina characteristic of Armorican heritage. The hardness of the material testifies to the exceptional skill of the stonemason, who was able to create shapes as delicate as the volutes of the fins or the veins of the foliage.
Related Figures
Le commanditaire anonyme de 1622 — possiblement un officier royal ou notable de la presqu'île de RhuysLe tailleur de pierre breton anonyme, auteur de la lucarne sculptéeAlain-René Lesage — dramaturge né à Sarzeau en 1668, figure emblématique de la villeLes inspecteurs des Monuments Historiques ayant instruit le dossier d'inscription en 1933
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Maison Renaissance située sur la place au Sud de l'église located?
Maison Renaissance située sur la place au Sud de l'église is located in Sarzeau, Département 56 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Maison Renaissance située sur la place au Sud de l'église built?
Maison Renaissance située sur la place au Sud de l'église dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Maison Renaissance située sur la place au Sud de l'église open to visitors?
Maison Renaissance située sur la place au Sud de l'église is currently closed to visitors.