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Origin and history

The Sainte-Agathe chapel, located in Langon in Ille-et-Vilaine, is a Gallo-Roman vestige of the fourth century, originally interpreted as a mausoleum or thermal baths. His funeral vocation allowed him to escape the destruction of pagan temples during Christianization. Transformed into a chapel in the early Middle Ages, it was dedicated to Saint Venier (or Guigner) as early as 838, probably replacing a pagan cult dedicated to Venus.

The rectangular building, 5 meters long, combines sandstone and brick. Its semi-circular apse houses a fourth-century fresco, rediscovered in 1839 under a medieval badigeon. It represents Venus coming out of the waters, surrounded by Eros and fish, confirming its pagan origin. The chapel also preserves Merovingian sarcophagi, a 17th century capital, and an eroded bas-relief above the door.

Ranked a historical monument in 1840 among the first in France, the chapel was restored in 1904 and searched in 1918. Further research (1996) suggests that it was part of the thermal baths of a Gallo-Roman villa, its apse serving as a frigidarium. Converted into a church in the 6th century, it was equipped with a new fresco (VIth-VIIth century) before being redesigned in the Romanesque period (XI century).

The site, located in the heart of the village facing the church of St Peter, bears witness to the local Roman occupation, with an ancient road remarkably preserved nearby (place called the Louzais). The chapel thus illustrates the reuse of a pagan building in place of Christian worship, a process common in Gaul during the early Middle Ages.

His furniture, including the classified fresco and three sarcophagus, was fully inventoried. An ordeal, now extinct, once stood in front of the building. The chapel remains communal property and symbolizes the Gallo-Roman Breton heritage, rare in the region.

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