Notre-Dame de Bonne-Nouvelle Basilica
Building built in the 19th century from 1884 to 1904; emblematic building from the religious, architectural and urban planning point of view. This monumental project, whose design and construction took nearly 40 years to complete, inevitably evokes its implicit reference to cathedrals. The choice of the "Gothic" style, introduced in Rennes by Jacques Mellet for the construction of the Missionaries' chapel (destroyed), as early as 1841, is here an eclectic approach, to which Abbot Millon subscribes, in the Semaine Religieuse, and which he qualifies as the "ogival style", considering "that it is preferable to choose with a wise and prudent eclecticism, the beauties of several styles of the same period, rather than slavishly copying a known work.
About this building
The plan of the church of Saint-Aubin tries to reconcile the imperatives of a parish building and the requirements of a place of pilgrimage. The building, although unfinished, is presented as a Latin cross with a large choir. The nave, with three bays, is lined with side aisles that allow easy circulation during the liturgies, in keeping with a parish of many faithful and urban. It leads to a large overflowing transept, each arm having two bays. The choir, prolonging the three-vessel distribution of the nave, ends in a pentagonal apse. Its side aisles serve as an ambulatory, allowing one to go around the liturgical choir and to access the chevet, a place of devotion to Notre-Dame-de-Bonne-Nouvelle. The elevation has two levels: large arcades and high windows. Built in the Gothic style of the 13th century, the basilica was inspired by the cathedrals of Chartres, Clermont and Amiens. The borrowing from these buildings is particularly noticeable in the design of the fillings of the openings: the rose windows of the transepts are a direct transposition of the rose window on the west façade of Chartres, and the four lancet windows are derived from those of Amiens.
