Notre Dame Church dans le Morbihan

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Key figures

Origin and history

The Notre Dame Church, located in Missiriac, Morbihan, Britain, is a monument whose oldest elements date back to the 11th century, including part of the nave. The building has undergone many transformations over the centuries: medieval modernizations, re-use of fifteenth century elements in the western porch (XVI century), and construction of the bell tower in the seventeenth century with a stone dated 1572. The transept and the choir date from the 18th century. Ranked a Historic Monument in 1970, it illustrates a hybrid architecture, marked by restoration campaigns in the 19th century, as evidenced by the cross of the enclosures and the classified square.

Missiriac became a parish in the 12th century, and in 1129 part of its territory was ceded to Malestroit. The church, dependent on the Dean of Carentoir and the Barony of Malestroit, acquired its parish status in 1802. Its Latin cross plan, without downsides, is characteristic, with a unique nave in schist and granite, a flat bedside, and a square bell tower surmounted by an octagonal arrow. The porch, adorned with a broken arch arcade and a door in the middle of the hanger, reflects various stylistic influences.

The interior houses six classified furniture objects, including a 17th-century altarpiece transformed in 1925 into a monument to the dead, incorporating marble plaques and a statue of Jeanne d'Arc. This atypical choice underlines the memorial role of the building. The enclosures, built in the 19th century, and the employers' feast of August 15 (in honour of Notre-Dame) perpetuate its anchor in local life. Local materials – shale, granite and slate – and successive re-uses bear witness to a continuous architectural history, linked to the evolution of the community.

The site, including the square, is classified by order of October 1, 1970 for its heritage and landscape interest. The church thus embodies almost a millennium of religious and social history in Brittany, from its medieval origin to its modern adaptations, through its role under the Old Regime (Ploërmel floor) and its consecration as a place of memory after the First World War.

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