Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

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.

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