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Origin and history

Notre-Dame-de-Beauvais Chapel is a Marian religious building located at Beauvais, at the southern exit of the village of Theil-de-Bretagne (Ille-et-Vilaine). Built between 1893 and 1894 by architect Henri Mellet, it replaces a Freian chapel attested by the 15th century. Its neo-Roman style is inspired directly by the chapel of St. Croix of Montmajour Abbey (Arles, 12th century), with a structure centered around a cross of square transept surmounted by a dome. The exterior is distinguished by its polychromy (white tuffeau, blue slate, red brick, grey granite), while the interior, unified by a boudigeon of lime, highlights a sober furniture and eight stained glass windows dedicated to Marian apparitions (Lourdes, Pontmain, Chartres, etc.).

The chapel is built on the plans of Henri Mellet, a Rennes architect known for his churches in Brittany. This project marks a unique case in his career: the almost identical resumption of a Provencal Romanesque model, enriched with local materials such as shale and granite. Originally, the site housed a medieval chapel, probably linked to a frairian community (laity or hermit brothers). The adjacent monumental cross, perhaps dated from the seventeenth century, completes the whole, inscribed in total (building, cross and land) to historical monuments since 18 March 2013. The building thus illustrates both a medieval heritage and the eclectic architectural currents of the late 19th century.

The stained glass windows, offered by local donors (the Ménard family, Desvaux, Bordais, etc.), celebrate major Marian cults. Their iconography reflects the popular Breton devotion of the time, marked by pilgrimages such as Pontmain or Folgoët. The chapel, a communal property, remains a testimony of regional sacred art and its anchoring in the rural landscape. Its location along departmental road 99, at 87 meters altitude, makes it a visible landmark in the countryside of Theil-de-Bretagne.

Historical sources mention two works dedicated to the chapel: a historical notice by Abbé Hyacinthe Forget (1907) and a collection of Information by Amand de Léon des Ormeaux, mayor of Theil (1888). These texts, as well as the archives of the General Inventory (Merimée database), underline its role in local memory. The chapel thus embodies a synthesis between medieval heritage, 19th century religious renewal and Breton identity.

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