Ossuaire, adossé au mur du cimetière
MonumentHidden Treasure
Ossuaire, adossé au mur du cimetière, located in Plélan-le-Petit (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
- Plélan-le-Petit, Département 22, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.4377, -2.2237
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00089405
Nestling against the wall of a Breton cemetery, this 17th-century ossuary fascinates visitors with its rare monolithic stone roof, a poignant vestige of a burial practice that has now disappeared.
History
In the heart of the market town of Plélan-le-Petit, in the Côtes-d'Armor region, a small, unassuming building set against the wall of the parish cemetery contains a density of history and emotion that its modest size would not suggest. The ossuary at Plélan-le-Petit is one of those humble monuments that the hurried eye passes by without seeing, but which the lover of Breton heritage immediately recognises for what it is: a rare and intact witness to a centuries-old burial practice. What immediately sets the building apart is its stone roof, a technical and aesthetic feature that sets it apart from almost all Breton ossuaries, which are generally covered in slate or tiles. Carefully hewn and laid, this stone roof gives the structure an almost mineral solidity, as if it had been designed for eternity - not without irony for a place intended to house the remains of the dead. The visit is brief but striking. The ossuary can be discovered in just a few steps, at the bend in the path leading to the parish church. Its small scale invites intimate contemplation: no crowds, no noise. The visitor is faced with an almost sculptural architectural object, each stone of which recounts the devotional and sanitary practices of a Brittany of the Grand Siècle that faced death with pragmatism and piety. The surrounding setting reinforces this atmosphere of contemplation. The cemetery at Plélan-le-Petit, with its dense vegetation and tombstones weathered by the centuries, forms a natural setting that has hardly changed since the local carpenters and masons built these walls. Whether you're a photographer looking for contrasting shades of grey, a lover of funerary history or just a stroller, you'll find this a timeless, authentic and unspoilt place to take a break.
Architecture
The Plélan-le-Petit ossuary is a very small building, in keeping with the tradition of these utilitarian outbuildings. Leaning against the perimeter wall of the parish cemetery, it takes advantage of this structural support to limit the number of load-bearing walls in the building, an economy of means characteristic of Breton vernacular architecture. The masonry is probably made of granite, a material that is ubiquitous in the Côtes-d'Armor region, quarried locally and cut with sufficient precision to ensure that the whole structure is watertight and solid. Its most remarkable and rarest feature is its stone roof. While almost all Breton ossuaries have a slate roof - a light, plentiful material that's easy to lay - the one at Plélan-le-Petit has a monolithic roof or one built of stone slabs, a demanding technique that requires no or minimal framework and walls that are totally solid. This solution, which is closer to washhouses and covered fountains than to ordinary funerary structures, gives the building a dense, squat, almost telluric silhouette. The opening, probably consisting of one or more arches or a low round-headed door, provided access to the interior to deposit or consult the bones. The ensemble is in keeping with the tradition of Breton parish enclosures, where each element - porch, calvary, church, ossuary - forms part of a coherent funerary and spiritual composition, conceived as a microcosm of the community facing death and faith.
Related Figures
Les maçons et tailleurs de pierre locaux du XVIIe siècle, artisans anonymes à qui l'on doit la construction et la couverture en pierre de l'édificeLe curé de la paroisse de Plélan-le-Petit au XVIIe siècle, commanditaire probable de la construction dans le cadre de la gestion pastorale du cimetièreLes inspecteurs des Monuments Historiques des années 1920, dont l'action permit l'inscription officielle de l'ossuaire le 19 mars 1926Les paroissiens de Plélan-le-Petit à travers les siècles, dont les ossements furent recueillis et conservés dans cet édifice
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Ossuaire, adossé au mur du cimetière located?
Ossuaire, adossé au mur du cimetière is located in Plélan-le-Petit, Département 22 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Ossuaire, adossé au mur du cimetière built?
Ossuaire, adossé au mur du cimetière dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Ossuaire, adossé au mur du cimetière open to visitors?
Ossuaire, adossé au mur du cimetière is currently closed to visitors.