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Origin and history

Kermain Manor House, located in Langonnet, Morbihan, was built between the late 16th and early 17th centuries. It replaces an old castral mound abandoned by the local lords. The site is distinguished by its organisation around a paved rectangular courtyard, framed by a main house to the south, outbuildings, a chapel to the northwest, and a well. The architecture of the house, with its circular staircase tower in semi-out-of-work and its carefully equipped bellow facades, reflects the prestige of its original owners.

The facades and roofs of the manor house (excluding communes) were inscribed in the historic monuments by order of 2 February 1980, thus recognizing their heritage value. The manor plan, consisting of three bodies of buildings aligned with descending gables, and its integrated screw staircase on the west façade, illustrate the architectural evolutions of the Breton Renaissance. Later changes have changed some elements, but the whole remains a stylistic unit marked by this pivotal period between the Middle Ages and modern times.

The Kermain mansion is part of a regional context where local lords, gradually abandoning medieval fortifications, prefer more comfortable residences representative of their status. The presence of a private chapel within the whole emphasizes the role of both residential, economic (via agricultural outbuildings) and spiritual of these homes. The private chapels were then common in the Breton manors, serving both as a place of worship for the seigneurial family and as a marker of its influence on the surrounding lands.

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