St Vigor Chapel

Cultural Heritage, 

SAINT-MARTIN-DE-MIEUX

Chapelle-St-Vigor-Jacques-Basile
Jacques Basile
Chapelle Saint Vigor, extérieur – Saint Martin de Mieux
J. Basile
Chapelle Saint Vigor, intérieur – Saint Martin de Mieux
J. Basile
Chapelle Saint Vigor, détail – Saint Martin de Mieux
Calvados Tourisme

Chapelle Saint-Vigor: the apple-blossom chapel

A true work of art

Nestled in a rural setting, in complete harmony with the surrounding farms, a Chapel to St Vigor has been on this site since the thirteenth century. The current building, built for Guillaume de Vanembras, dates back to the 15th century with some later additions and changes.
The Vanembras family were buried in the nave of the chapel until 1737, where some inscriptions are still visible. The chapel fell into ruin and was finally closed to the public in 1983. The Japanese artist, Kyoji Takubo, first visited in 1987 and fell under its spell. He decided to create an art work from it. Work started in 1992 with the aid of Japanese and French sponsors.
The first thing restored were the roof timbers, followed by the main roof with the creation of the tiling which mixes old roof tiles with rainbow coloured glass tiles. The floor was relaid in steel and the walls covered in sheet lead on which the artists applied layers of different colour paint, finally on the last white layer he added the branches of apple trees. He then cut through the layers of paint to bring out the different colours of Normandy apple blossom.

Prices

Payment methods

  • Postal or bank cheques
  • Cash

Services

Sittings

  • Groups welcome