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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Notre-Dame de Bon-Voyage Chapel is a 16th-century religious building located in Plounerin, Côtes-d'Armor (British). Built according to an L-shaped plan, it includes a rectangular nave and a transept arm extended by the apse. Its architecture combines typical elements of the Breton Renaissance, such as the acrotery foothills and a sundial embedded in the southern gable. The oratory, in front of the west façade, once housed a missing statue, while an original fountain was replaced by a modern pump.

The chapel is mentioned as early as the 15th century, but the current building is the result of two nearby construction campaigns: the early chapel around 1575 (date engraved on a now disappeared entrance), and the seigneurial chapel between the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The weapons of Jean du Chastel, lord of Bruillac, and of his wife Marie Le Long, married in 1625, are on the sandstones. The chapel, owned by the lords of Bruillac, was acquired by Jean du Chastel in 1618, as evidenced by an act of sale.

Classified as a Historical Monument by decree of 31 March 1926, the chapel preserves traces of its turbulent history, such as the controversial restorations of 1960 (deletion of sandstones, walls covered with cement). The roofing panel, redone in 2010, originally dated from 1728. Its location along the Paris-Brest road, a major axis since the Ancien Régime, highlights its historic role as a place of devotion for travellers.

Both the oratory and the chapel have been protected since 1926. The site also includes a modern pump replacing an ancient fountain, a common element in Breton religious ensembles associated with Marian cults. The materials, of apparent granite, and the long-paned roof reflect local techniques. The sundial, with its 24 time lines, bears witness to the symbolic importance of time in the religious buildings of the time.

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