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Origin and history

The church Saint-Pierre de Saint-Pierre-de-Plesguen, located in the department of Ille-et-Vilaine in Brittany, is a religious building built mainly in the 15th and 16th centuries. It is distinguished by a nave with a straight bedside, a transept, and a 16th century tower with a slate arrow. Its architecture combines 13th, 15th and 16th century elements, including a north wall dating from the late 12th century and characteristic 15th century bays. A local legend attributes its foundation to Pierre de Dreux, Duke of Brittany, at the beginning of the 13th century, although this hypothesis is not confirmed by solid historical sources.

The interior of the church houses granite altars, one of which dates back to the 15th century, as well as 16th-century funeral slabs built in the cobblestone around 1896. These slabs come from the local seigneurial families, such as the lords of the Rouvre, La Jehardière, or La Chesnaie-au-Porc, who had fire rights in the building. The north chapel, opened in the 19th century, and the west gable window, restored in 1887 after being blocked in 1812, testify to the subsequent changes of the building. The church was listed as a historic monument on February 10, 1913.

The church furniture includes three statues (Saint Peter, Saint Firmin of the seventeenth century, and the 18th century Virgin), as well as two 18th and 19th century confessionals. These elements reflect the artistic and religious evolution of the region. The building, located on a high point of the village at 82 meters altitude, dominates the local landscape and remains a symbol of the Breton heritage, linked to the history of the lords and the surrounding rural communities.

The oral tradition evokes the presence of Brittany's weapons on several parts of the building, such as near a door or in the window of the southern crusillon, as well as a banner badge above the west door. These details, although not accurately dated, reinforce the link between the church and the ducal history of the region. Architectural changes, such as the opening of the northern chapel in the 19th century to symbolize space, illustrate the continuous adaptations of the building to liturgical and community needs.

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