Origin and history
The old church of Saint-Lunaire, located in the department of Ille-et-Vilaine in Brittany, is a Catholic building dedicated to Saint Lunaire, the legendary founder of the parish. Originally built in the 11th century in a Romanesque style, it was profoundly redesigned in the 14th, 15th and 17th centuries, incorporating private chapels, a Gothic choir and classical lowsides. Disused in 1884 at the inauguration of a new church, it was saved from destruction thanks to local scholarly petitions such as Arthur de La Borderie, and later classified as a Historic Monument in 1913. Restored in 1954 by the architect Raymond Cornon, it now houses exceptional furniture, including seven medieval gisses and the carved tomb of Saint Lunaire.
The church, perfectly oriented, stands in the heart of the village of Saint-Lunar, on the site of an old monastery of the 6th century. Its Romanesque nave, flanked by collaterals rebuilt in the 17th and 18th centuries, leads to a chorus redone around 1350 by Alain de Pontual, then redesigned in the 17th and 18th centuries. The lateral chapels, erected by the noble families of the Pontual (south, 15th century) and Pontbriand (north, late 14th century), form an asymmetric transept. The bell tower, added to the modern era, crowns the building in granite and slate. Its enclosure, a former parish cemetery, preserves a 14th and 16th century cross, classified in 1930.
The church furniture bears witness to its rich past. The tomb of Saint Lunaire, composed of a Gallo-Roman sarcophagus and a carved slab of the 15th century, was moved several times before being installed under the triumphal arch in 1954. The laymen of the Pontbriands (14th-15th centuries) and Pontuals (14th century), classified as early as 1892, adorn the lateral chapels. Among them, those of Olivier de Pontbriand and Jeanne le Bouteiller, wife of John I of Pontual, illustrate Breton funeral art. The altars, altars (including an 18th century rock) and statues (Vierge à l'Enfant, Saint Peter) complete this ensemble, reflecting the liturgical and artistic evolutions of the building.
The history of the church is marked by tensions between modernity and heritage. In the 1880s, the company of Mielles, carrying the seaside development of Saint-Lunar, proposed to exchange the old church for a land to build a new place of worship. Thanks to the intervention of the Archaeological Society of Ille-et-Vilaine, the building was preserved, though disused. Used as a forage deposit during the occupation, it was restored after the war with war damage funds, before being returned to worship in 1954 by Cardinal Roques. Today, it is managed by a Rennes heritage company.
The architecture of the old church reveals a superimposition of styles. The Romanesque nave (XI century), with full-circle arcades worn by pilasters, contrasts with the full-circle windows of the collaterals (XVIIth–XVIIIth centuries) and the Gothic choir with cut strips (XIVth century, redesigned). The flamboyant Pontual chapel communicates with the south side via an opening created in 1840. Outside, the square bell tower pierced with rectangular bays and surmounted by an octagonal arrow dominates the building. Local materials (granite, slate) and rustic details, such as stacks or stairways in the cemetery, highlight its Breton anchor.
Ranked among the historical monuments since 1913, the old church of Saint-Lunaire embodies the religious and seigneurial memory of the region. His furniture, protected in 1892 for four gisers and the tomb of Saint Lunaire, was enriched in 1971 by the classification of two new gisters. The building, owned by the commune, remains an occasional place of worship and a major tourist site of the Emerald Coast, alongside Dinard and Saint-Briac. Its history reflects the challenges of preserving heritage in the face of 19th century urban and seaside transformations.
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