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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste du Croisty, located in the Morbihan department in Brittany, is a religious building built in the 15th and 16th centuries. It adopts a Latin cross plan with a flat bedside and an asymmetric transept. Its architecture combines elements of Romanesque (castles discovered in 1998) and flamboyant Gothic, as evidenced by the trilobed bays and carved sandstones dated 1553. The building initially depended on the Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem, an order present at Croisty from the 12th century, as evidenced by a charter of 1160 confirming donations for their benefit.

The master window, dating from the 16th century, illustrates the life of Saint John the Baptist and carries the arms of the family Le Scanff, local lords. The polychrome wooden sandstones, classified as Historic Monument (1939 and 1994), represent hunting scenes, centaurs and grotesque figures. Some, considered "indecent" in 1748, were partially destroyed or modified by order of the bishop of Vannes. An inscription of 1553 reveals that Pierre Le Dorfen financed the realization of these sandstones for two chapels.

The church has undergone numerous restorations: repair of the roof and panel in 1860, reconstruction of the stone bell tower arrow in 1879 (after its destruction by lightning in 1895), and a major campaign in 1998 to save the building, which was then threatened with closure for security reasons. This restoration concerned the walls, the frame, the stained glass windows, and interior decorative elements such as the vault keys and statues. The bell tower, entirely rebuilt at the beginning of the 20th century, integrates with medieval masonries.

Inside, the glazed blue vault, symbol of the sky in Romanesque art, and the transept sandstones (fantastic animals, demons, grotesque characters) reflect the iconographic repertoire of the sixteenth century. The altarpiece of the high altar, composed of panels of the former dead jube, represents six apostles. The Renaissance ossuary, the southern porch and the lateral chapels testify to the architectural evolution of the site, linked to the order of the Hospitallers until the modern period.

Croisty, originally dependent on the parish of Priziac, became an autonomous parish in the 14th century. In 1697, the Commander Hospitalier Leonor de Beaulieu de Belthomas exercised seigneurial rights and religious foundations there, confirming the church's central role in local life. The archives also mention a liturgical treasure in the seventeenth century (silver crosses, crucifixes, statues) and conflicts related to the state of the building, as in 1846, where its ruin was reported to the authorities.

Classified as a Historic Monument in 1984, the Saint-Jean-Baptiste church combines medieval heritage and modern interventions. Its furniture elements (sabulary, stained glass, altarpiece) and its history related to the Hospitallers make it a rare testimony of Breton religious art, marked by successive restorations and adaptations to ecclesiastical norms throughout the centuries.

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