Our Blog - Landunvez, France

The Chapelle of Saint-Gonvel in the village of Landunvez dates from the 16th century. It is a little rectangular chapel with a very unique calvary in the yard. Normally, the calvaries are tall, but this one is a simple cross on a stone stepped base. There used to be an old cemetery surrounding the chapel, which had be removed.

The inside decorations are definitely different than what you would guess from the outside. Most of the ceiling is just open woodwork, but over the altar is the customary inverted-boat wooden ceiling, here painted a bright blue color. From a distance, this looks like lots of polychrome marble and niches. But in fact, the Italian-style wall with a classical pediment is well-executed faux marble with trompe l'oeil niches. There are 2 polychrome wooden statues, which were restored this year: A Christ showing his wounds to Saint-Thomas, and a Virgin and Child. There will be a 3rd statue in the empty niche soon, which will be a statue of Saint Gonvel as a monk.

Lucy had to take a little closer look since she couldn't believe it wasn't marble!!

We then took a walk along the coast for a bit, and found this little building which is the old Argenton battery. In the 17th century when France was often at war with England or the Netherlands, this point was used to control the nearby port of Argenton. This would have been the guardhouse and would only be able to handle one or two soldiers at a time. The main room had only the door ... no windows nor a chimney. Adjoining it was the powder magazine, which had the smaller opening.