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Origin and history

The ossuary of Gourin is a religious building built in 1777, located in the placister of the parish church, about 15 meters northeast of its bedside. It was erected from the stones of the chapels Saint-Pierre and Saint-Yves, formerly located in the cemetery surrounding the church until 1850. This rectangular monument features a facade adorned with a large central door framed with two narrow windows, each crossed by a baluster, and surmounted by a skylight.

The ossuary was registered as a historical monument by order of 17 November 1930. Originally intended to house the bones exhumed from the cemetery, he was reassigned to a municipal workshop in 1961. Its construction is part of a Breton tradition of collective funeral buildings, often associated with parish churches to manage burials in a context of saturated cemetery.

The monument bears the date of 1778 on its façade, confirming its period of construction at the end of the eighteenth century. It is now owned by the commune of Gourin, in the department of Morbihan (region Brittany). Its sober architecture, marked by elements such as window balusters, reflects the local styles of the period, while responding to a utility function related to the funeral practices of the Old Regime.

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