Well here is one I thought have written a post on but unfortunately, I have not. I did on the abbey (see post) but not the church in Langonnet. The town of Langonnet is part of the Cornish area of the Morbihan dept 56 and is bordering the Côtes-d’Armor dept 22. In my lovely Bretagne of course. Well as the saying goes ; better late than never! Here is my bit of story on the Church St Pierre et St Paul of Langonnet, part I !! Hope you enjoy the post as I.
The present church was preceded by a monastic establishment founded by the monks of the Abbey of Landévennec. The Church, in its oldest parts, dates back to the 12C. From this primitive Church remains only the eastern part of the nave of Romanesque style. In the 16C, the entire exterior was redone as well as the collateral, the font Chapel and the eastern part of the Church. The first spans of the nave are also built in the Gothic style. The ossuary and sacristy were erected in the 17C. In 1662, the Church was covered with a new roof structure. The bell tower was hit by thunder in 1844. It was crowned with a small wooden arrow covered with slate. The square tower is entirely redone between 1846 and 1873 and the steeple that overcomes it. Inside, the furniture is almost entirely crafted in the 19C.
The Church Saint Pierre et Saint Paul is in the shape of a Latin cross with a square tower at the crossroads. The west facade, from the 16C, is a fine example of flamboyant Gothic with buttresses surmounted by pinnacles. Its double door is decorated with braces and surmounted by an openwork tympanum. The south side of the nave has a square porch supported by two angular buttresses bearing the date “1523”, as well as a 17C ossuary, filling the angle between the side of the nave and the porch. It has six berries of trilobed shape.
The Church Saint Pierre et Saint Paul is 32 × 12 meters inside. The beautiful nave with three aisles covered with a framework has retained four Romanesque spans from the 12C and three others with the first spans are Gothic. The Romanesque part of the nave alternates between a blind bay and a bay pierced with a small very splayed twin window, which are separated by engaged half-columns starting from the transoms At the base of the first half-column , there is a column-statue representing an enigmatic crouching figure holding his beard. The flat face of the capital just below bears the inscription: Jesus Nazarenus rex judeorum with the lateral face of the capital shows a Crucifixion. The Romanesque capitals constitute the main originality of the church, whether by their shapes or their patterns. They present a great diversity of very stylized sculpted decorations: crossettes, foliage, geometric decoration, mask, animals, Crucifixion surrounded by birds, character holding a cross in one hand and a wreath in the other, hand holding a cross ending in a sheaf of foliage,etc. They are part of one of the major movements of Breton Romanesque sculpture focused on geometric decoration and the stylization of figurative elements towards abstraction. Beautiful!
The town of Langonnet on its heritage: https://www.langonnet.bzh/2018/05/16/decouvrir-le-patrimoine/
The local Pays du roi Morvan tourist office on Langonnet: https://www.tourismepaysroimorvan.com/tu-decouvres/essentiel/communes/langonnet/
The Deanery of the parish of Gourin on the Church St Pierre et St Paul ( with many of what I have translated above): https://www.doyenne-gourin.fr/eglises/eglise-saint-pierre-saint-paul-2/
Another wonderful example of the beautiful architecture and history abound in my beautiful Morbihan, with more to see. Again,hope you enjoy the post on the Church St Pierre et St Paul, part I !! as I.
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 