Chapel of Notre-Dame de Tronoën

This chapel faces the magnificent Bay of Audierne. Arriving by the road to Saint-Jean-Trolimon and just before the coast that climbs towards it, one can see its three imposing bell towers. It is called "Cathedral of the Dunes", because it was built on dunes. Built in the 15th century, it was first dedicated to Saint Maudez, then to Notre-Dame de Tronoan invoked by the families of sailors who disappeared at sea, in order to find their bodies.

About this building

The Tronoën Chapel, rectangular in plan (25 m long and 12 m wide), consists of a main vessel, two bays separated by a powerful diaphragm arch supporting a three-spire bell tower, a low side to the north and a flat chevet to the east. The vaults are pointed, those of the four bays of the nave, equipped with liernes, have an octopartite composition of vaults, while those of the lower side are quadripartite. The chapel is similar to the rare 15th century Breton buildings with vaulted ceilings, such as Le Folgoët, Kernascleden or Locronan, pilgrimage sanctuaries built around 1420-1430.

Key Features

  • Architecture
  • Monuments

Visitors information

  • Parking within 250m
  • Café within 500m
  • Muddy boot friendly

Other nearby buildings

Emile Taillefer

Chapel of Langidou

The chapel would have been built in the 13th century then restored at the end of the 14th / beginning of the 15th century. Destroyed during the revolution, its stones were used for the construction of a guard house on the coast. Today in ruins, it still retains its charm and especially this splendid rose at the bedside, like a stone lace, which dates from the early fifteenth century. The chapel is one of the best representatives of the architectural style of Pont-Croix.

Jacques Oyaux

Church of Notre-Dame-de-la-Joie

The chapel is located directly on the seafront, between St Pierre and St Guénolé. A sentinel watching over the sea, it is dedicated to the Virgin. The sailors came to thank her for saving them from the storms. During the pardon that took place on August 15, they paraded barefoot and headless. This building dates from the end of the 15th century.

Emile Taillefer

Church of Saint-Tudy

The Saint-Tudy church is a Romanesque church located in Loctudy, port of the Pays Bigouden, in the south of the Finistère department in Brittany. It is consecrated to Saint Tudy, a monk whose geographical and historical origins are rather vague. It is one of the rare Romanesque churches in Brittany to have come down to us with, among others, the church of Locmaria in Quimper, the abbey church of Sainte-Croix in Quimperlé and the church of Saint-Pierre de Fouesnant. Its restoration - in two stages during the 19th century - was followed by Prosper Mérimée and Jean-Baptiste Lassus, and carried out by Joseph Bigot and Paul Gout, which may indicate a certain architectural importance of the building.