Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The former Manor House of the Forest, located in Kerfunten near Quimper, dates back to the 16th century and was a remarkable example of architecture between the flamboyant Gothic and the Renaissance. This manor house, now destroyed, was distinguished by a facade decorated with sills and a carved door, embellished with a hooked brace, florets, pinnacles and winged characters wearing coats of arms. These decorative elements, typical of the period, reflected the social status of its owners and their taste for an art still marked by medieval traditions while integrating renaissant innovations.

Inside, the manor house housed a granite screw staircase, whose vestments fell on carved caps, a frequent architectural detail in the noble houses of the time. The doors, decorated with towels (grounds in the shape of folded towels), and the granite fireplaces bear witness to a careful ornamentation, peculiar to the Breton aristocratic residences of the sixteenth century. An annex building, located at the bottom of the courtyard, maintained a third-point window with a flamboyant network, reminiscent of persistent Gothic influences. Finally, a sculpted gate remained in the remains of the enclosure wall, emphasizing the symbolic and defensive importance of the whole.

Ranked a Historic Monument by order of 15 February 1940, the mansion was demolished on an indefinite date. His fragments, including architectural elements such as sculptures and bays, were deposited in a field adjacent to the farm at the psychiatric hospital in Quimper. This dispersal of remains illustrates the vulnerability of the heritage to urban transformations and changes in the use of historic buildings. Today, only the photographic documentation, such as the photographs of Adrien Dauzats (1804–68), makes it possible to understand the original aspect of this mansion, whose exact location remains approximate (precision estimated at 5/10).

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