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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The chapel of the Holy Spirit, located rue du Four-Mollet in Auray (Morbihan), was founded in the 13th century by the Dukes of Brittany on the site of an oratory erected in 1269 by the Duke John I. In 1282 she passed to the Order of the Hospitallers of the Holy Spirit, becoming the heart of a major commandery. The building, rectangular (45 m long), has a five-span nave supported by columns and illuminated by third-point bays. A vaulted porch marks its southern entrance.

Confiscated during the French Revolution, the chapel ceased its religious use in 1791 and served first as a military warehouse, then as a prison in 1795 for the defeats of Quiberon's expedition. Purchased in the early 19th century by Gabriel Deshayes, it will briefly house a college before being transformed into a barracks in 1831, taking the name Bertrand du Guesclin. Acquired by the municipality in 1923, it had various uses (firehouse, technical centre) before being classified as a historical monument in 1982.

Restorations carried out between 1991 and 1994 allowed to recover the bays walled in the 19th century. The building, a communal property, today bears witness to its dual heritage: religious (hospital order) and military (case). Its protected facades and roofs illustrate the transformations since the Middle Ages.

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