La chapelle et le village de Prigny

Take a stroll through Prigny, an ancient and charming little village dating back to the Middle Ages, with its narrow streets and old stones. The chapel, a listed historic monument, is a jewel in the town's history.

Discover the district of Prigny, the former village of Moutiers-en-Retz, and its streets lined with high walls dating back to the 14th and 15th centuries. Look for the ballast stones brought by ships from the north, as well as the old wells and windmills. Discover the chapel, which is in fact the first church in Moutiers, because until the 11th century, Moutiers was just a suburb of Prigny.

Situated on the ancient shore of the Gulf of Machecoul, Prigny dominates the Marais Breton. During the Roman conquest, the town was fortified and became an "oppidum" guarding the Baie de Bourgneuf and the two Roman roads leading to it.

The chapel is in fact the first church in Moutiers-en-Retz: the church of Saint-Jean-le-Baptiste. Today, it is known as a chapel by the locals simply because of its small size.
Dating from the 11th century, the Prigny chapel is a squat building with four semicircular openings, a detail that reveals its early Romanesque style.
The bell tower was built later and probably served as a watchtower for the Templars, as it overlooks the Baie de Bourgneuf and the Marais Breton.
At the entrance, you can see the 17th-century altarpieces, typical of Baroque art and the real treasures of this building, as well as the Viking anchor.

Practical information: the chapel is currently closed for restoration (scheduled to reopen in summer 2025).

To take part in the Prigny chapel restoration campaign, make a donation to the Fondation du Patrimoine.

The history of the Prigny chapel in detail


The chapel
It dates from the 11th century. It is 17.60m long and 6.90m wide. Unlike churches from this period, this one is not oriented. It is built north-south. No one who has studied Prigny understands the reason for this lack of orientation. Perhaps the neighbouring castle prevented an opening along its wall: pure hypothesis. Its openings bear witness to the primitive Romanesque style, as does the buttress placed at an angle at the south-west corner of the façade. Other buttresses support the walls to the west and bear witness to the pre-Romanesque period. The few round arched openings confirm the age of the building. To the south, facing the Breton marshes, is a large basket-handle door, the main door of the chapel, topped by a window and an oculus at the top of the gable. The coat of arms, worn away by wind erosion and completely illegible, may be that of the Sires de Rais or, because of its drapery, that of some commendatory abbot. You can enter through the secondary side door to the east. Opposite you is another door leading to the bell tower. This vast 50m2 room, with its large fireplace, was once the home of the parish priest when the abbey (la Bouie) ceased to be conventual... The chapel's thick walls are whitewashed, as were the houses in the area in days gone by. Four windows illuminate the building, whose wooden vault reveals large pieces of framework. The date of restoration is engraved on one of them: 1641.

🔔 The bell tower
A square mass measuring 7m square, with its height of 10m, it forms a masonry cube, with no external openings. It post-dates the church itself and appears to have served as a watchtower for the Templars, who were for a time the ducal maréchaussée, responsible for policing the road and monitoring merchants and pilgrims.

The pig stone
A cemetery already existed around the church in the early Middle Ages. In the enclosure wall to the east, opposite the side gate, you can see an indentation closed off halfway up by a slab of schist. This is a "pig stone". In the past, pigs used to graze on the communal land around places of worship. But pigs had a bad habit of entering cemeteries, where they sometimes dug up the dead. The Duke of Brittany therefore asked for a stone to be placed at the entrance, which Christians could step over, but which would prevent the pigs from entering.

📖 The three altars
The richness of this church lies in its three 17th-century altars.


The high altar is dedicated to the patron saint of the church, St John the Baptist. It is an altarpiece composed of columns, niches and garlands. At the top we see Saint John and his lamb. On either side of this main altar are two statues: Saint Luke the Evangelist and Saint Marcoul, Abbot of Nanteuil. The central painting has disappeared. When the church was restored in 1876, Christ was placed on the altar with the Virgin of Sorrows and the apostle Saint John. The central painting was a starry sky, because in the 19th century, no Calvary was conceived without a starry sky. A wooden tabernacle, highly decorated in the taste of the 18th century. An inscription on the inside reads: "Made by me, A. Leblanc, master carpenter in Nantes, on 28 August 1852". This is the period of Louis XV, which was the golden age of the parish of Saint-Jean Baptiste. Speaking of this altarpiece, Canon Russon wrote: "the whole, painted in bright colours, is imposing in its grace and majesty, with its six columns with Corinthian capitals embellished with volutes, with its chubby cherubs' heads, and with its vases from which flaming flames escape. It is the noble and pleasant order of the Grand Siècle". In the choir, there is a stone credenza in the side wall. It dates back to the 14th century. Above, a large Christ of the Spanish school, probably from the 17th century, stretches out his arms widely, unlike the Jansenist-inspired Christs. The centre of the high altar is decorated with the Maltese cross, a reminder of the long presence of the Templars and their successors on the Prigny site. This same altar is surmounted by three mirrors: one above the tabernacle and the other two at either end. The purpose of these mirrors was to increase the number of lights before the advent of electricity. Altars with mirrors are rare. There is another at St-Aignan-de-Grand-Lieu. They are more common in Normandy. At the back of the church hangs a Viking anchor, buried near the church before the Normans left in 938, and found with three others at the end of the 19th century...



The two side altars are in the same style and date from the same period, the 18th century. The one on the left, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, has a classical polychrome stone altarpiece, but the four Corinthian columns are decorated at their base with flowers, foliage and cherubs holding garlands of fruit in their mouths. The side niches house a Saint Joseph with the Infant Jesus (two separate statues forming a single group) and a Saint Germain. The altar is surmounted by a polychrome wooden Virgin of Normandy, dating back to the time when the Bay of Bourgneuf supplied salt to the king's granaries in Rouen. It is characterised by a large head, a tall and ugly baby Jesus (ears protruding from the narrow head), and a lack of maternal gaze between mother and son. Finally, the Virgin's veil is short. The wiggle would indicate a 14th century. According to specialists, however, this statue dates from an earlier period, probably the late 13th century, when the Bay of Salt flourished. Was it sculpted in Normandy, or by a Norman artist? We can't say. This statue was restored in 1966 by the Beaux-Arts department. he altarpiece on the right is renowned for its two statues, one of Saint Augustine at the top, one of Saint Guénolé on the right and one of Saint Anthony of Padua on the left. Saint Guénolé was the founder of Landévennec Abbey near Brest in the 5th century. In the Middle Ages, this Breton abbot - whose name means "all white" - was the patron saint of the salt workers in the Guérande region. As there were constant links between this salt-producing region and our bay, the salt workers in the Pays de Retz also took Guénolé as their patron saint. But they didn't speak Breton in Prigny. So Guénolé or Gwénolé became Guinolet. This is why old texts about our parish always mention Saint Guinolet. He is invoked by young girls who want a husband. Prick the foot of the saint and you'll find your soul mate.



Source: Extract from Emile Boutin's book "Les Moutiers en Retz", on sale at the Moutiers-en-Retz tourist office.