Timeline

Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Notre-Dame de la Houssaye chapel, located at La Houssaye in Pontivy (Morbihan), is a centuries-long building. His story began in 1435 under the impulse of Alain IX of Rohan, Viscount of Rohan, who erected the choir and transept. His son, John II of Rohan, continued the work around 1480 and commissioned a polychrome stone altarpiece at a picard workshop, while frequently residing in Pontivy, where he had his last military building built between 1479 and 1485. The nave was completed at the beginning of the 16th century by Anne de Rohan, while the classic bell tower was added between 1730 and 1779, with a final arrow at the beginning of the 19th century. Local materials, such as the Pontivy Batholite granite and the British schist, dominate the building.

The chapel is inseparable from the economic history of the Viscounty of Rohan. In the 16th century, La Houssaye is home to one of the three major fairs in Rohan country, with Noyal and La Brolade, where more than 3,000 horses are exchanged per year. These transactions, strictly controlled by the Viscount or his clerk, reflect the seigneurial power over local commerce. The site continues as a place of worship and assembly, despite the gradual disappearance of fairs.

On the architectural level, the chapel illustrates a marked stylistic transition. The choir, of "reduced depth" according to historian André Mussat, integrates directly into the arms of the transept, offering a "co-visibility" of the three main altars, an innovation in the 15th century. The nave, with a single vessel flanked by two vaulted bottoms (XVI century), contrasts with the panelled structure, chosen for lack of foothills sufficient to support vaults. An ancient jube, whose wooden fence remains, once separated liturgical spaces. Outside, a gable overlooks the diaphragm arch, crowned by an old openwork bell tower, vestige of a medieval phase.

The chapel has been classified as a historic monument since 15 January 1935 and has recently been restored: the tower is consolidated between June 2009 and February 2010, and the statue of the Virgin with Child (1989), carved in oak by Henri Fondeville, is restored in 2014. These interventions preserve a heritage related to both Marian devotion, the seigneurial history of the Rohan, and local crafts, from stone tailors to carpenters.

Today owned by the municipality of Pontivy, the chapel bears witness to the historical stratification of Morbihan, between medieval heritage, Breton Renaissance and classical additions. Its picard altarpiece, its missing equestrian fairs and its hybrid bell tower make it a religious, economic and artistic site, anchored in the landscape of Rohan country.

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