Parish closes are typical of religious architecture found in villages in Finistere. We went to a two part heritage course run by Wendy Mewes (
www.wendymewes.com) to learn more about them. The first session was finding out all the facts: when they were built, why, what a parish close consists of, what the cultural and religious context was, the different architectural styles and so on. We were a group of six people and it was easy to ask questions and have conversations about it all. We then met two days later and travelled to three parish closes where we could 'read' them and begin to identify the huge amount of symbolism they contained. Thanks once again to Wendy for her intellect, imagination and for making all this knowledge come alive.
Each 'Enclos Paroissial' contains a church, a calvary and an ossuary as well as a small amount of land within its walls.
First we visited Saint Thegonnec parish close. This dates from the 16th and 17th century, and it has a fantastic ceremonial entrance arch. On the ossuary is inscribed
'Hodie Mihi, Cras Tibi' which means
'Today Me, Tomorrow You'.
After this we visited St Guimiliau, again dating from the 16th and 17th centuries. This was amazing and I especially liked the calvary and the church organ.
Our final visit was to Lampaul Guimiliau where among other marvels there is a wonderful Pieta and sculpture of Christ's entombment, 'La Mise au Tombeau'.
There is so much to learn from the Parish closes. The centrality of the faith to the sixteenth and seventeenth century Bretons; their perspectives, priorities and witness - in the context of their everyday lives.
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