A mantle of churches and chapels rose over the western bishopric of Tréguier and the eastern fringe of Léon at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries. Tradition credits their features to the Beaumanoir workshop in Morlaix, and this travelling exhibition makes the case on 15 panels. The Saint Nicolas chapel in Plufur and the parish enclosure in Trédrez carry it. The Pays d’art et d’histoire du Trégor built it with Morlaix Communauté.
Region: Brittany
Pardon de Saint Winoc at Plouhinec
The Cap Sizun parish keeps a pardon for each of its churches, and this one belongs to the Église Saint-Vinoc at Plouhinec. Saint Winoc was born in Armorica, near Dol, and left for Flanders, founding the monastery at Wormhoud, under Mont-Saint-Winoc. The church has carried his patronage since the fourteenth century and holds a fragment of his relics from Bergues. The CRER, the committee for restoring religious buildings, keeps it standing.
Fête de la Pomme by Avalou Plabenneg
Avalou Plabenneg, the orchard association of Plabennec, fills the Salle Marcel Bouguen with heritage dessert varieties, cider apples and organic fruit from the Locmaria orchard. Grafting and apple identification each have a booth, alongside displays and videos on fruit-growing technique. Outside, apple juice is pressed in the open and knives and tools are sharpened. A pie contest and guided circuits of the town’s orchards run alongside, with admission at two euros. Pruning and grafting at Locmaria, Kerangal and Kerséné occupy the association through the year.
Le Mystère Abgrall: a trail through Guerlesquin
Guerlesquin hands over a game booklet and a problem: Erwann Abgrall, a wealthy Breton eccentric, has vanished, leaving an immense fortune of murky origin, no will and no heir. The booklet turns each walker into an investigator, reading the heritage of the Petite Cité de Caractère to crack the riddles. Maître Braouzec, a notary in Rennes, carries the succession. The trail covers twenty-four Breton towns of the Petites Cités de Caractère network.
Bling Bling: young apprentice goldsmiths in Vitré
Not everything that glitters is gold, the session starts out, yet everything here is precious. Children of four to six are taken into metal itself, through the materials and then the pieces of metalwork made from them. They go at it as apprentice goldsmiths, with the objects in front of them. The hour is led by the service patrimoine et musées of Vitré, which keeps the town’s heritage, and it is held at the Place du Château.
Visite de la Cidrerie Benoît at Saint-Alban
The Benoît family has pressed cider at Saint-Alban through four generations, and the cidery opens its press for a fortnight of works visits. Press, fermentation vats and bottling are the stages the guide walks through, in the order the fruit takes. The orchards behind it are organic and certified free of treatment. A cidrology workshop with Benjamin Benoit closes the visit, tasting the juices and ciders made on the spot.
Des écailles, des carapaces & des hommes
The Musée de la Conserverie Le Gall turns its temporary exhibition to the world of fishing through five species: sardine, thon, maquereau, langouste and langoustine. Collections gathered with the Musée de la pêche de Concarneau trace how techniques changed and what comes next. The route runs outdoors, to the port de pêche and the théâtre de verdure. Conférences follow the species one by one, among them la langoustine, l’or rose du Pays bigouden.
Les Minutes Bleues at La Galerie, Binic-Étables-sur-Mer
Rue Touroux holds La Galerie, where the contemporary artist Elsa Tomkowiak sets strong colour, volume and movement through space at the crossing point of painting and sculpture. A café follows the walk through the rooms, and the group trades what it noticed. The fifth edition of Les Minutes Bleues puts such sessions in the natural and cultural patrimoines of the Côtes-d’Armor, read in the blue light of dawn or dusk. Admission is free, every age is welcome, and booking is strongly advised.
Des tours à l’abbaye ?! The Landévennec fortress
In the thirteenth century the abbey of Landévennec became a fortified castle: towers, moats and drawbridges surrounded the church and the monastic buildings. The exhibition traces that change, shaped by power struggles, ambitions and wealth. Archaeological artefacts, games and interactive displays punctuate the tour, and a digital reconstruction in three dimensions puts the abbey back as it stood in the Middle Ages. The monks’ daily lives figure alongside.
Chapelle Saint-Quirin and its altarpiece, visit in LSF
The Culture and Heritage Department of the Pays d’art et d’histoire Auray Quiberon Terre Atlantique opens the chapelle Saint-Quirin at Brech to visitors. The sober classical building is marking its 350th anniversary, and it houses one of the finest altarpieces in Morbihan, from the late 17th century. A French sign language interpreter accompanies the guide. Les incontournables also opens megaliths and chapels elsewhere on the territory.