Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The church of Saint-Gilles of Malestroit, founded in the 12th century, rises on the site of a first building linked to a sacred source, probably built after the foundation of the village in 987. The Romanesque construction began in 1144, with a nave, an absidiole transept and a hemicycle choir including a fountain today outside. From this campaign remain the cross, the south arm of the transept and re-used sculpted elements, such as capitals and modillons with fantastic motifs (dragons, sphinx) or moralizers (vices). These sculptures, dated between 1160 and 1200, evoke the poitevin influence and buildings like Saint-Sauveur de Dinan.

In the 15th century, the Romanesque nave was rebuilt in a radiant Gothic style, for unknown reasons. A century later, a second flamboyant Gothic nave is joined to the north, with a flat bedside, while the Romanesque choir is redesigned to harmonize with this extension. The hexagonal turret of the "Beffroi", erected to the west, becomes a distinctive element of the church silhouette. A fire in 1592, during the expulsion of the leaguers, partially damaged the building, causing repairs in the late 16th century. The vaults of the cross, decorated with medieval paintings (unicorn, elephant, centaur), were rediscovered in 2011.

The furniture and stained glass windows bear witness to rich post-medieval additions. A 16th-century Monolith Pietà, saved from revolutionary destruction by a rosary, next to classified statues (saint James, St.Georges) and a 17th-century pulpit, acquired in 1791 after the dispersal of the Augustine goods. The stained glass windows, such as that of the Tree of Jesse (XVI century) or the large stained glass window of Saint-Gilles (1900, by Huchet), illustrate the artistic and devout evolution of the place. Ranked a Historical Monument in 1931, the church thus blends Romanesque heritage, Gothic transitions and traces of the religious and political upheavals of Brittany.

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