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Origin and history

The Saint-Yves Chapel, located in the heart of Vannes in Morbihan, is a Catholic religious building built in the seventeenth century as a church of the adjacent Jesuit college. It borders Maurice-Marchais Square and is joined by the former Jules-Simon College, formerly Jesuit College. Its sober architecture, inspired by Italian Baroque models, reflects the Jesuit style of the time, in a context of religious expansion marked by the installation of many communities in Vannes.

The first chapel of Saint-Yves, built in 1577, was entrusted to the Jesuits in 1629-1630 with the college. Restored in 1616, it was completely rebuilt between 1661 and 1685 under the direction of Brother Charles Turmel, architect of the Society of Jesus, thanks to the funding of Catherine de Francheville. The first stone was laid on 27 September 1661 by Guillaume Bigarré, Sieur de Cano. The vault was made by Mathurin Bussonière in 1661, and the façade, completed in 1678 by Jean Caillot, bears the Jesuit monogram IHS (Jesus Hominum Salvator).

The chapel, built in white stone on a granite base, consists of a unique nave and a small choir. His altarpiece, offered in 1684 by Governor Claude de Lannion and directed by John Boffrand, celebrates the triumph of Saint Ignace de Loyola. Ranked a historic monument in 1929, it was closed in 1991 for security reasons, then restored between 2018 and 2021 before being reinaugurated in January 2022.

Before the Revolution, the chapel served the Jesuit college, founded in 1574 on lands ceded by local lords such as Jan Briçon and René d'Arradon. After the Jesuits left in 1762, the college was taken over by the commune, and the buildings demolished in 1887 to give way to Jules-Simon College. Only the chapel, communal property, remained, bearing witness to this educational and religious heritage.

The site is located in a quadrilateral including an interior courtyard and terraced gardens, visible on the old plans. Its rectangular plan with polygonal choir and two-storey facade, decorated with doric and ionic pilasters, illustrate the austerity advocated by the Jesuits. A later tower, erected as an observatory, completes the whole, highlighting its role both spiritual and scientific in the 17th century Vannes.

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