Logo Musée du Patrimoine

All French heritage classified by regions, departments and cities

Chapelle Saint-Pierre de Villefranche-sur-Mer dans les Alpes-Maritimes

Patrimoine classé
Patrimoine religieux
Chapelle baroque et classique
Alpes-Maritimes

Chapelle Saint-Pierre de Villefranche-sur-Mer

    Quai Courbet  
    06230 Villefranche-sur-Mer
Chapelle Saint-Pierre de Villefranche-sur-Mer
Chapelle Saint-Pierre de Villefranche-sur-Mer
Chapelle Saint-Pierre de Villefranche-sur-Mer
Chapelle Saint-Pierre de Villefranche-sur-Mer
Chapelle Saint-Pierre de Villefranche-sur-Mer
Chapelle Saint-Pierre de Villefranche-sur-Mer
Chapelle Saint-Pierre de Villefranche-sur-Mer
Crédit photo : Remi Jouan - Sous licence Creative Commons

Timeline

Temps modernes
Révolution/Empire
XIXe siècle
Époque contemporaine
1600
1700
1800
1900
2000
2e moitié du XVIe siècle
Presumed construction
1957
Decoration by Jean Cocteau
30 juin 1957
Inauguration
27 décembre 1996
Historical Monument
1er mars 2001
20th Century Heritage Label
début XXe siècle
Registration on the façade
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui

Heritage classified

Chapel (Box AP 407): Order of 27 December 1996

Key figures

Jean Cocteau - Artist painter Author of interior decorations
Jean-Paul Brusset - Collaborating painter Postponement of drawings on walls
Pierre Béchon - Craftsman Retouches of drawn lines
Charlie Chaplin - Picture visitor Present at the inauguration in 1957
Robert Esposito - Electrician Installation of lighting
Jean Mencaraglia - Mason Restoration of Romanesque walls

Origin and history

The Saint-Pierre Chapel, located at the foot of the old town of Villefranche-sur-Mer on the Quai Courbet, probably dates from the second half of the 16th century. Originally fishermen's chapel, it was also used as a nets shed and as a fishing court, where the Prud'homie of the fishermen settled its disputes. An inscription on its façade at the beginning of the twentieth century attested to this function.

In 1957, Jean Cocteau designed and created a painted decoration covering the entire interior surface of the chapel, as well as elements of the facade. This project, its first painted chapel, is based on five main scenes: two evoking Mediterranean life and three relating episodes of St Peter's life. Local artisans, such as the painter Jean-Paul Brusset or the ceramicists of Mougins, collaborate in its realization. The chapel was inaugurated on 30 June 1957 by a mass in the presence of Charlie Chaplin.

Ranked a Historic Monument on December 27, 1996, it also received the "Twentieth Century Heritage" label on March 1, 2001. Still owned by the Prud'homie des pêcheurs, it illustrates the mixture of religious heritage, contemporary art and local maritime traditions.

Cocteau's work includes symbolic details, such as candlesticks in the shape of human faces, evoking passages in Revelation. The painter quotes in a preface the craftsmen who contributed to the project: the stone tailor of La Turbie for the altar, the electrician Robert Esposito for lighting, or the mason Jean Mencaraglia for restoring the Romanesque walls.

The chapel thus embodies a twofold history: that of a medieval building linked to the life of fishermen, and that of a major artistic work of the twentieth century, marking the cultural landscape of the French Riviera.

External links