Chapelle Sainte-Eutrope de Langourla

Langourla

Of the former parish church of Langourla, dedicated to Saint Eutrope, nothing remains today but a lone tower in the middle of the cemetery — but what a tower. Built in the 13th century, octagonal, of dressed stone, it is pierced by four pointed-arched doorways whose colonnettes support a stone vault, and capped by a timber spire. The rest of the building was demolished from 1869, judged too dilapidated; only the intervention of Bishop Augustin David, in 1866, saved the tower from destruction by turning it into a funerary chapel. Threatened again in the 1950s by ivy and the weather, it was listed as a monument historique (historic monument) in 1965 and then entirely restored. Saint Eutrope, invoked in Brittany against dropsy and migraines, drew pilgrims here according to a well-documented practice: the sick came to take a little earth from the foot of the tower, applied it to their ailments, then brought it back — some going so far as to carry some away for relatives too weak to make the journey. This ritual of healing earth, typical of Breton popular piety, makes this Gothic remnant far more than a mere ruin: a place of living devotion until recent times.

Getting there : Free access, communal property (in the middle of the cemetery)

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

Ambient sound