As the word suggests, it’s an enclosed space around a parish church that includes a triumphal gate, an ossuary (or bone house) and a monumental calvary cross decorated with figures.

Built between the 1500s and 1700s mainly in north Finistère, these unique religious architectural structures centred around a church with a wall to separate the sacred space from everyday, secular life. You entered the enclosure through a triumphal gate. The cemetery extended around the church, where you’d find a monumental calvary cross decorated with religious figures that illustrated the main episodes in the life of Christ. The ossuary housed the relics of the bodies buried in the church.

During this golden age in Brittany, many parishes competed fiercely to demonstrate their own faith and piety, so these flamboyant churchyards grew bigger and taller in the hope of outdoing the neighbouring villages. This explains the scale and grandeur of these structures and their unique blend of Breton, Gothic and Renaissance architecture, while the profusion of ornaments, colours and gilding was a reaction to the rigour imposed by the Reformation at that time.

The flamboyant parish church at Saint-Thégonnec is a shining example of the prosperity of a parish that was once the richest in the Léon region thanks to the cloth trade. Saint-Thégonnec’s church is one of the most beautiful examples in the area, and its unbelievable wealth of architectural features mean that it’s one of the most visited in Finistère. 

Ravaged by fire in 1998, this churchyard has been perfectly restored and – second only to the Breton Parliament in Rennes – it was the largest heritage project ever undertaken in Brittany.

Visitors can’t help being impressed by the sheer scale and the imposing Renaissance-style granite columns. The monumental calvary cross depicts scenes from the Passion and Resurrection of Christ, and was one of the very last to be built in Brittany. The interior of the church is even grander than its exterior, with its altarpieces, statues, stained glass windows and paintings. The Versailles-style choir is particularly impressive, with an abundance of gilding, trophies, cherubs, saints and garlands of brightly-coloured flowers.

The parish enclosure in Plougonven boasts the oldest of Brittany’s seven monumental calvaries. Standing 4 metres tall and built on two levels, it features 19 scenes illustrating the life of Christ from the Annunciation to the Resurrection. The fine details and richness of these sculptures alone make it well worth a visit. Built in the flamboyant Gothic style,  Saint-Yves church was seriously damaged by fire in 1930. Since then, it has been brilliantly restored, topped by a magnificent steeple with a balcony and turret containing a staircase, also adorned with a number of grinning gargoyles.

Thanks to the linen trade, the small village of Guimiliau was able to build one of the most remarkable parish churches in Finistère. Take time to look at its monumental calvary, which has around 200 figures carved in stone, visually telling the story of Christ’s life, from the Annunciation to the Resurrection. Like an ancient 3D comic strip, they seem to come to life before your eyes.

From the outside, the building is elegant and understated but you only have to step inside Saint-Miliau church to be completely dazzled. The bright, luminous and colourful décor appears in stark contrast to the granite exterior. The imposing organ, perched on the gallery, is particularly impressive and it has been enjoyed by many international musicians since it was built between 1675 and 1680.

Lampaul-Guimiliau is just 3 km from Guimiliau, and in the 1500s, these two market towns engaged in fierce rivalry through their parish churches, competing with each other for originality. The race was on to see whose church and churchyard could be the biggest, the most dazzling and the most splendid! At the time, the town owed its prosperity to tanning animal hide for leather, and the incredible growth of this trade helps to explain the surprising, over-the-top scale of the church in this small market town. Notre-Dame de Lampaul-Guimiliau is a masterpiece of Gothic art and its 75-metre bell tower was one of the tallest in Brittany at the time, along with that of Le Kreisker in Saint-Pol-de-Léon. Today, it has a somewhat truncated shape that is 18 metres shorter than its original design, due to a lightning strike in 1809. Inside the building, the vibrant colours of the beautiful carved altarpieces are simply astonishing, and some of the scenes are said to have been inspired by paintings from Flemish artists such as Rubens. At the foot of the nave, look up and admire the impressive, finely sculpted rood beam (or ‘glory beam’) bearing Christ.

This is where you’ll see the highest spire in Brittany. At 57 metres tall, perched on a hill that is almost 280 metres high, Commana’s parish church can be seen from miles around and certainly makes an impression. With its simple lines and understated facade, Saint-Derrien church is unlike any other.

Its austere exterior, however, hides a joyous surprise – the most spectacular wooden altarpiece in Brittany. The red, brown and gold woodwork of the Sainte-Anne altarpiece, 8 metres wide and 6 metres high in Baroque style, is just exquisite and lights up the interior of the building.

Rather out of the way from most of the other flamboyant churches, Pleyben is well worth a detour. During the 1500s and 1600s, this community owed its wealth not to cloth but to cereal crops, livestock farming and fairs. The people of Pleyben devoted their resulting wealth to building this impressive parish church and all the structures in its churchyard.

Its twin-arched monumental calvary is the largest in Brittany and, like a stone book, illustrates thirty sculpted scenes from the life of Jesus. The church of Saint-Germain, in a style that is both Gothic and Renaissance, stands out for its two bell towers and Latin cross. The interior is particularly splendid, especially the details of the organ and the colourful, finely sculpted altarpieces. The stained glass windows in the choir that depict the Passion of Christ are also particularly stunning, bathing the church in a breathtaking and unforgettable light.

The parish church at La Roche-Maurice is more modest in size than its neighbours, despite its 60-metre steeple. There are no triumphal arches or monumental calvaries here, as the textile crisis brought a rather early end to architectural ambition. Saint-Yves church, built in Renaissance style, has a colourful interior that houses several gems of sacred art. Start with its gigantic polychrome-oak rood screen, one of the finest in Brittany, as it features wonderful exotic figures such as lions with human faces, theatrical masks and monkey heads. Then take a look at the impressive 20m² stained glass window depicting the Passion of Christ: rich in colour and detail, it has lost none of its original splendour.

La Martyre was one of the first ‘enclos’ and as it was built between the 1000s and 1600s, it offers a fine panorama of the different architectural styles that followed one another during this period. Saint-Salomon church, erected in memory of King Salomon of Brittany, is the central feature of the parish churchyard. A visit takes you on a journey through different styles and centuries, where you can admire ancient and contemporary stained glass windows, an altarpiece from the 1600s, a bell tower from the 1200s and a high altar from the 1700s. Take a good look at the wall paintings that were discovered in 1997 when the plasterwork was being repaired. They date back to the 1300s, and although badly deteriorated, they are a rare example of religious pictorial art in our region, including images of the Last Judgement. At the top of the walls, along the beams, admire the finely sculpted polychrome runners that illustrate typical Breton scenes, such as ploughing or playing the local instrument, a biniou.

Sizun’s parish churchyard is entered through a majestic Renaissance-style triumphal arch with three arches, topped by a monumental calvary. This unique triumphal gateway is quite rightly the pride of the commune – in fact, Paris commissioned a copy for its Jardin des Tuileries to commemorate the bicentenary of the French Revolution.

The entrance to Saint-Suliau church is via a beautiful southern porch that leads you to many treasures, including its high altar and polychromatic organ.  Its Gothic-style bell tower was one of the last to be built in Brittany, and recent restoration work has returned the building and its furnishings to the superb colours of yesteryear.