Chapelle du Temple de la Coëfferie

Messac (Guipry-Messac)

Isolated in the countryside of Messac, now Guipry-Messac, this small 12th-century Romanesque chapel owes its name to a persistent legend: local tradition attributes it to the Knights Templar, although the earliest known document, a feudal declaration of 1391, mentions instead a Hospitaller commandery of Saint John of Jerusalem. Its single nave, 15.50 metres long, and its unfinished south transept retain gables shouldered by buttresses and a pointed-arched doorway typical of Breton Romanesque. The choir houses 12th-century wall paintings, including a Tetramorph, partly effaced but still identifiable. Restored in 1626 by the commander Gilles du Buisson, then turned into a farm building after the Revolution, it recovered its heritage vocation thanks to a restoration begun in the 1960s and its registration as a monument historique in 1992.

Getting there : restricted access (private property on the site of the former manor; visible from outside, occasionally open during the Heritage Days)

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound