Le calvaire de Plougastel-Daoulas, ex-voto de la peste de 1598

Plougastel-Daoulas

The Plougastel peninsula was emerging from the plague of 1598, which is said to have carried off a third of its inhabitants, when the parish decided to raise a monument to it: not a chapel, but a calvary, the most populous in Brittany. The base, an octagonal platform of yellow microdiorite from Logonna-Daoulas pierced by arcades, was completed in 1602; the three crosses were set up in 1603; the statuary was complete in 1604, and the date is carved on the platform. One hundred and eighty-two figures of kersanton, the dark blue stone of the region, tell the life of Christ from the Annunciation to the Resurrection, in superimposed friezes that one reads by walking round the base: the Entry into Jerusalem, the Last Supper, the Washing of the Feet, the Carrying of the Cross, the Entombment, and, on one face, Hell, where Katell Gollet, the servant girl who had hidden her sins in confession, is delivered to the demons — Breton tradition has made her a figure of warning. The statuary is attributed to the workshop known as that of the Master of Plougastel; the local people called it in Breton Croaz ar Vossen, the cross of the plague. The calvary was listed in 1889; damaged in 1944, it was restored in 1949 thanks to funds raised by an American, John D. Skilton. Since then, it is whole again, and one can still count its figures.

Wikipédia — Calvaire de Plougastel-Daoulas ↗

Getting there : From Brest by the N 165 and the Pont de l'Iroise, then the D 33 to the town (a quarter of an hour); parking around the church square. The calvary is in the open air, visible at any hour and free of charge; you can walk round it in a few minutes, you stay longer if you want to read the scenes, which follow one another in a spiral from bottom to top. The museum of the strawberry and of heritage, a few streets away, explains the peninsula; the neighbouring church, rebuilt in 1950, is open during the day.

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

Ambient sound