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.
About this building
This building is a great success of Romanesque art in Brittany. Presence of a traffic gallery or triforium which does not extend into the nave. The choir and the radiating chapels are vaulted in the semi-dome. Very sober, this church has many capitals and carved pillar bases. "In total, the church of Loctudy has more than seventy capitals, but also a set of sculpted bases which is one of the richest in Brittany. These sculptures are of Corinthian inspiration, which could suggest an aristocratic commission. Indeed, the bas-reliefs of the nave simply present geometrical shapes (volutes, crosses, interlacing, triangles...), while the choir and the ambulatory, in addition to these geometrical motifs, present animals and human beings, including some Christ on the cross. "The theme of the cross, taken up in various forms on many capitals (...) appears to be a highly significant leitmotif. (...) This repetition of the same theme is all the more remarkable since representations of Christ on the cross are uncommon on Romanesque capitals.
