Paris1972-Versailles2003

And why not sticking around the wonderful Finistére dept 29 of the region of Brittany. And take you to see the real Brittany and France, in the so called off the beaten path ways. Follow me in my blog to see it and do search for almost anything.

On the left bank on the Cornwall side, the Church of St. Thomas was also rebuilt in the 19C. Inside, the sand pits are a beautiful sight and distinguish by various motifs. Closer to the altar, an old wooden statue of the Virgin in an elongated position is interesting because of its original representation.

The Holy Bishop was almost immediately placed on the altars, and you have, in 1231, a church dedicated to the Holy Martyr, in Bénodet, a church that the Bishop of Quimper Rainaud gave, at that time, to the Abbey of Daoulas. It is, probably, this donation which was the occasion, for the Lords of Leon, founders of the Abbey and owners of Landerneau, to build, at the gate of this city, a church in honor of St. Thomas, which they also gave to the Abbey, and which became the Priory-curie of St. Thomas, from the first half of the 13C.  The primitive Church was rebuilt towards the end of the 16C, and the Tower founded on the Sunday of Trinity of 1607.

The origin of the parish of St. Thomas, whose name refers to Saint Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbéry, murdered in 1170, would be a Priory belonging to the Abbey of Daoulas and installed from 1218. The early St. Thomas Church of Canterbury dates from the 13C. It was rebuilt in the 16C and restored in 1849.  It was transformed  into a decadary Temple in 1798.

It has a large nave with aisles and a flat bedside. What strikes is its belltower-porch with 3 galleries and finished in a dome. It was erected between 1607 and 1630, the date of completion. Threatening to collapse, it had to be dropped and reassembled in 1849. The façade of the Bell Tower and the porch are decorated with stone statues of St Francis of Assisi, St Eloi and a Virgin at the Calvary above the entrance.

To see inside a cowl with gadroons of 1701, the altarpiece of the master altar carved in 1711 , and a rare wooden statue of the  Virgin mother lying of the 15C. The Church of St Thomas is located at the place St Thomas.

A webpage in French that tells more of it is here: The SPREV org on the Church of St Thomas in Landerneau

Some webpages to help you understand this monuments and the city of Landerneau are

City of Landerneau on heritage

Tourist office of Landerneau on heritage

Finistere tourism dept 29 on Landerneau heritage

Tourist office of Brittany on Landerneau heritage

Enjoy it fully, wonderful town indeed and one of dept collegues is native, glad I visit her native town in wonderful Finistére in Brittany and in my belle France. This is part of the history of Landerneau.

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!

And why not continuing with lovely Finistére and showcase some of the nice monuments we have here in our gorgeous Brittany! I like to take you in this sunny season to the town of Landivisiau and its Church of Saint Thuriau!

Landivisiau is a town in the dept 29 of Finistère in the région of Brittany/Bretagne. It is the historic capital of the Breton horse race. Landivisiau lies on the southern edge of the plateau of Leon, just north of the Valley of the Élorn, a coastal river coming from the Monts D’Arrée and which flows, after crossing Landerneau, in the harbour of Brest; its route serves as a boundary with Loc-Eguiner and forms an elbow just at the southern boundary of the town, where this stream receives a right-bank tributary, the Quillivaron, separating Landivisiau from Lampaul-Guimiliau and, further East, Guiclan; to the West the brook of Kerfeunteniou, another tributary of the right bank of the Élorn which flows into it downstream of Landivisiau, serves as a boundary with Bodilis; to the North the boundary of the town with Plougourvest, its former mother parish, is totally artificial.

I like to tell you about a nice monument that we took aim of visiting while doing our walks in town.

The Church of Saint-Thuriau built between 1863-1864. It replaced an older Church dating from 1554 and restored in 1663. It is consecrated in 1865. From the old church only the south porch and the Bell Tower dating from 1590 remain. Several renovation campaigns for the south porch can be distinguished: 1554 (open-air gate), 1554-1559 (lateral piers and arcades), 1559-1565 (vault and walls). The porch is all the more interesting to study that it is like the hyphen between the Gothic porches and those of the Renaissance.

The large arcade, which forms the entrance to the side of the square, is leaning in the corners by two powerful buttresses and surmounted first by a brace or counter-curve, a first sharp creeping, decorated with curly leaves, then a second creeping that forms veteran and crowned by a monumental niche, adorned with fluted balusters with Ionic capitals and finished by a Gothic pinnacle.

The niches that decorate the two corner buttresses house the seated statues of the four evangelists with their attributes, that of the Blessed Virgin from a former group of the Annunciation, and finally the statue of St. Anne. At the bottom of the first crawling are two curious caryatides: a mermaid and a satyr; at the bottom of the second, two gargoyles twisted and unchained; a winged dragon and a lion. In the middle of the pediment are two superposed statues: a Saint, in hair, holding a book, and a our Lady of piety; at the top, a stamped crest of a helmet and supported by two lions. The large niche that overcomes the building contains the statue of St. Thivisiau, patron of the parish, and those of two other bishops.

Between the rich moldings and garlands adoring the sides and the perimeter of the large entrance, these are scenes from the Old Testament. Inside the porch, the statues of the twelve apostles are housed in half Gothic, half Renaissance niches. At the extreme rank a series of statuettes were carved in small niches. In the middle of the tympanum is placed a statue of the Savior, to which a head topped with the tiara was reported and which had to belong to the Eternal Father.

The Bell Tower of the Church of St Thuriau is by its style and height, one of the most beautiful in the country of Leon; it is almost detached from the Church and has its base pierced on both sides by two large arcades that form an open passage. There is a pretty statue of St. Michael which is under the window of the south transept.

An all, an interesting place to see while doing your walks in nice quant old Landivisiau. And of course plenty more to see on my previous posts.

Some webpages to help you plan your trip here are

City of Landivisiau on the heritage

Tourist office of Roscoff on Landivisiau heritage

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!

And why not sticking around the wonderful Finistére dept 29 of the region of Brittany. And take you to see the real Brittany and France, in the so called off the beaten path ways. Follow me in my blog to see it and do search for almost anything.

The Church of Saint-Houardon located in Landerneau,  Saint Houardon was the seat of the parish of Saint-Houardon in Landerneau until 2017, the date on which the deanery which stretches from Saint-Thonan to Rosnoën and from Logonna-Daoulas to Loc-Eguiner, twenty-two active steeples, not to mention Beuzit-Conogan, is erected in a single parish. A first Saint Houardon Church stood on the shore of the Élorn river . It was rebuilt in the 16C. In 1604, it is enlarged from a southern porch. In 1858, the Church was dismantled and reassembled in the city center, where it is seen today. The operation was financed by emperor Napoleon III.

On either side of the Elorn river, a church was built. This river was indeed the natural boundary between the two former counties, Léon and Cornouaille, which had their own diocese. Right bank side Leon, the Church of St. Houardon was completely moved in the 19C. Closer to the river initially, it could no longer accommodate all the parishioners. Reconstruction and expansion work lasted 3 years, from 1848 to 1861. The porch was raised in finely worked kersantite stone and its slender Bell Tower accompanied by a turret staircase.

The façade is divided into three floors: on the ground floor, a large arch, open between two corintian columns fluted, above an entablature in the antique, carrying a floor in the shape of attic adorned with three beautiful niches with shells and ten balusters and cushioned by a triangular pediment; on the second floor a sort of attic lower than the previous one and supporting a spoil whose concave curved crawlies are lined by a gusseted railing. Finally, crowning the whole, rises to the top a lantern with domes and balusters. At the corners of the Church of Saint Houardon , two thick buttresses, placed obliquely and subdivided into four floors by strong moldings offer an abundant adornment of niches, small arcades, modillions, pilasters and skylights

Some webpages to help you enjoy and understand this area as well as planning are

City of Landerneau on heritage

Tourist office of Landerneau Daoulas on heritage

Tourist office of dept 29 Finistere on Landerneau

Tourist office of Brittany on Landerneau

Enjoy it fully, wonderful town indeed and one of dept collegues is native, glad I visit her native town in wonderful Finistére in Brittany and in my belle France. This is part of the history of Landerneau.

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!