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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The chapel Saint-Jérôme de la Salle, located in Lanmérin in the Côtes-d-d-Armor, is a 16th century building built of granite and schist bellows. Elongated (11.50 m x 5.50 m), it is distinguished by a bell tower-wall with a bell chamber and an exterior decoration inspired by the flamboyant gothic: cabbages, crosses adorned with lions or archangels, and doors in cladding surmounted by florets. Inside, a walled frame, carved with unusual motifs for the time (astrological cycles, vegetable gardens), and a starry panel with Marian (AMR) and Christian monograms (IHS) testify to a transition between Gothic and Renaissance.

The chapel was founded in 1536 by the Lagadec family, lords of La Salle, whose coat of arms adorns the western gate and the crossettes. Although dedicated to St Jerome, it is rapidly associated with the cult of Our Lady of Pity, as attested by the ancient acts and statue of the Virgin trampling a snake over the southern gate. The original painted decoration (fruit garlands, cartridge of the sponsor rector) dates back to the late 16th or early 17th century, while the present panelling, with blue motifs, dates back to the 19th century. Ranked a historic monument on November 24, 1930, it remains communal property.

The building preserves traces of its turbulent history: the Lagadec coat of arms, once painted on the gate, disappeared, and the 18th century purple lily drape was covered with lime during the Revolution. The enclosures planted with chestnut trees and the cross of the southern placister, still in place, recall its role as a fraial chapel, built according to tradition on seigneurial lands. Its interior decoration, exceptional by its richness and originality, avoids conventional religious themes (Passion, Punishment) to favor secular or symbolic representations, reflecting the humanist spirit of the Breton Renaissance.

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