Manoir de Mézarnou
ManorHidden Treasure
Manoir de Mézarnou, located in Plounéventer (Département 29), 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
- Plounéventer, Département 29, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.5110, -4.2190
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00090260
The flamboyant Gothic jewel of Lower Brittany, Mézarnou boasts a seigniorial courtyard of rare elegance, a monumental spiral staircase and intact medieval kitchens that bear witness to a noble art of living that was frozen around 1525.
History
Nestling in the Finistère bocage of Plounéventer, the Manoir de Mézarnou stands out as one of the finest stately homes of the early Breton Renaissance. Completed around 1525, it retains an exceptional sense of its original layout, as if time had spared every granite stone carefully cut by the builders in the early 16th century. Where so many manor houses have undergone alterations and haphazard restoration, Mézarnou offers an almost intact image of a Breton noble dwelling in all its architectural coherence. What makes Mézarnou truly unique is the coexistence of a rich, flamboyant Gothic décor and a surprisingly modern functional layout for its time. The courtyard facade of the north wing, reserved for the seigneurial residence, displays refined late Gothic ornamentation - mouldings, crossettes, sculpted frames - while the west wing reveals an interior partitioning system that is as ingenious as it is well-preserved, with its buffet wall separating the kitchen, sink, trough and salt cellar. Two worlds under one roof: that of the lord and that of his people. The spiral staircase, the centrepiece of the manor house, is in itself a lesson in Breton lapidary art. Carved from Léon granite, it is monumental in a way that is rare for a building of this standing, and articulates the two wings around a stair tower that ingeniously changes from an octagonal to a square plan, topped by a corbelled turret. This change in geometry alone illustrates the constructional genius of the period. A visit to Mézarnou is an experience of rare density: each area tells a specific story, from the grand seigneurial hall to the pantries, via the vaulted passage linking the outbuildings - an arrangement surprisingly reminiscent of the cross passages in contemporary English manor houses. Enthusiasts of medieval architecture will find plenty here to observe in minute detail, while visitors interested in social history will discover what life was like for the Breton gentry at the dawn of the modern era. The hedged farmland of inland Finistère, away from the main tourist routes, adds an atmosphere of authenticity and serenity to the visit that more popular sites have often lost. Mézarnou rewards those who know how to get off the beaten track.
Architecture
The Mézarnou manor house is in the form of a dwelling with an enclosed courtyard, the north and west sides of which are laid out at right angles. This layout, typical of Breton noble residences from the first half of the 16th century, places the seigneurial dwelling in the north wing, while the west wing houses the service areas. These two buildings are linked by a remarkable staircase tower, which makes a clever geometric transition from an octagonal plan in its lower section to a square plan in its upper section. A circular corbelled turret, grafted onto the upper eastern section, serves an upper fire chamber, testifying to the care taken to ensure the lord's comfort. The whole structure is built from Léon granite, a material characteristic of the architecture of northern Finistère, and carved with a precision and care that illustrate the excellence of the region's stone-cutting craftsmen. The courtyard facades are decorated in the late flamboyant Gothic style, which is particularly rich on the north facade. Prismatic mouldings, window surrounds with crossettes, accolades and stylised plant motifs make up a coherent ornamental programme of high quality craftsmanship. The granite spiral staircase is the centrepiece of the building: its monumentality, the quality of the cut of its volutes and steps, and its ingenious integration into the connecting tower make it one of the finest surviving examples in Lower Brittany. The interior reveals exceptionally rare functional arrangements. The ground floor of the west wing retains its longitudinal partitioning by a buffet wall separating the kitchen proper from the vaulted technical areas - sink, trough and salt cellar - which completed the equipment of a 16th-century seigneurial kitchen. Even more unusual is the vaulted passageway linking the west wing to the outbuildings to the rear, an arrangement that evokes the cross passages characteristic of contemporary English domestic architecture and bears witness to the active cross-Channel cultural exchanges taking place in the Breton noble world at the time.
Related Figures
Yves de Parceveaux — commanditaire du manoir, noble léonard, fait construire Mézarnou dans la première moitié du XVIe siècleJeanne de Kerven — épouse d'Yves de Parceveaux, co-commanditaire du manoir, issue d'une famille noble du LéonFamille de Parceveaux — lignage noble breton du Léon à l'origine de la demeure et de son programme architectural gothique flamboyantFamille de Kerven — famille alliée aux Parceveaux, représentative de la noblesse terrienne du nord-Finistère au XVIe siècle
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Manoir de Mézarnou located?
Manoir de Mézarnou is located in Plounéventer, Département 29 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Manoir de Mézarnou built?
Manoir de Mézarnou dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Manoir de Mézarnou open to visitors?
Manoir de Mézarnou is currently closed to visitors.