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Église Notre-Dame-en-Saint-Melaine de Rennes

Rennes

Dimensions
In line with rue Saint-Melaine, place Saint-Melaine; its south front is bordered by the western end of the Parc du Thabor; since 1855 its tower has carried a Virgin in gilded lead
Period
Monastery founded around 550 over the tomb of Saint Melaine, according to tradition; church burnt in the 7th century and destroyed in the 10th; rebuilt in the 11th century (services from 1026, Romanesque transept of Abbot Gervais, 1081–1109); crossing rib-vaulted in the 13th century; nave and choir rebuilt in the 14th century; bell tower rebuilt in 1432; arrival of the Maurists in 1627, tower facade by the Corbineau workshop in 1676, cloister in 1683; parish church in 1791; provisional cathedral from 1803 to 1844, under the name of Saint-Pierre; tower heightened and crowned with a Virgin in 1855; protection as historic monuments staggered from 1908 to 2013
What stands there
From 1803 to 1844 the abbey church built over the tomb of Saint Melaine served as cathedral for Rennes, deprived of its own

Melaine, Bishop of Rennes in the early 6th century, is said to have been the adviser of Clovis; he attended the Council of Orléans in 511 and died around 530 (between 529 and 549 according to Wikipedia). Legend has it that his body, placed in a boat on the Vilaine, travelled up to Rennes by itself, against the current, without oars or sail. Over his tomb rose a church, then a monastery, founded around 550 according to tradition; burnt in the 7th century, destroyed again in the 10th, when the monks fled to Touraine with the relics, the church was rebuilt in the 11th century, and services were already being held there in 1026. Of this Romanesque abbey church there remain the crossing, preserved on three sides, and the broad rectangular piers at the west end of the nave; the south transept keeps a 15th-century wall painting, the Baptism of Christ. The Maurist Benedictines, who arrived in 1627, had the Corbineau workshop remake the facade of the tower in 1676, then the cloister walks. The church's destiny changed with the Revolution. Having become a parish church in 1791, it was given an unexpected role in 1803: the cathedral of Saint-Pierre, deliberately demolished at the end of the 18th century and not yet rebuilt, could no longer be used, and Bishop Jean-Baptiste-Marie de Maillé de La Tour-Landry provisionally installed the seat of the diocese in the abbey church. It then took the name of Saint-Pierre and kept it until 1844, before becoming a parish church again under the name of Notre-Dame. In 1855 the architect Mellet added a storey to the tower and crowned it with a Virgin in gilded lead, from the workshop of Abbé Choyer in Angers.

Wikipédia — Église Notre-Dame-en-Saint-Melaine de Rennes ↗

Further reading

Getting there : Place Saint-Melaine, on the western edge of the Parc du Thabor; the neighbouring former abbey is at 15 rue de la Monnaie. Transport, opening times and visiting conditions to be checked.

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

See it on the map OpenStreetMap Directions

Ambient sound

Église Notre-Dame-en-Saint-Melaine de Rennes
Hullbr3ach · CC BY-SA 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons

Nearby

In the same department

All places — Ille-et-Vilaine (31).