Church of St-Jacques

Façade of St-Jacques.

Location: 47° 11′ 47″ N, 1° 32′ 17″ W

St-Donatien, St-Similien, and most other churches in Nantes are built on ancient or medieval sites, but as far as I am aware, only one, the Church of St-Jacques de Pirmil, is actually the original church (more or less). St-Jacques was built in the 12th century, and restored in the 19th.

The Quartier Saint-Jacques is the only neighbourhood of modern Nantes located on the south bank of the Loire. It used to be called Pirmil, which is still the name of the local tram/bus station.

In the 12th century, Nantes was much smaller, and Pirmil was far outside the walls. The Loire was also much different at the time. Currently, Nantes has only one large island, the Île de Nantes, but this is basically an artificial island created over the centuries by filling in the various branches of the Loire and Erdre rivers. Those branches formed dozens of smaller islands, which were joined together to create one large one. In the Middle Ages, there was just one long bridge connecting Nantes in the north, the islands in the Loire, and Pirmil in the south. At the Pirmil end of the bridge, a castle was built in the 14th century, to protect Nantes during the Hundred Years' War between France and England. The castle has since been destroyed and nothing remains of it.


The church was built in 1180 (as noted by an inscription inside, although that was added much later). A "medieval church" probably brings to mind a Gothic cathedral, like Notre-Dame in Paris, which was actually built around the same time as this church. The Gothic style of Notre-Dame spread to Nantes later; the cathedral in Nantes is another good example of a huge Gothic church, and I'll definitely write more about that later. St-Jacques is still in the Romanesque style though - the architecture and the decorations are rounder, less massive, and less ornate. Romanesque is based on architecture from the late Roman Empire, hence the name: in fact, in French it is simply (and a bit confusingly) called "Roman."

The facade looks old, and it does contain bits of the original church, but it was actually rebuilt in the 19th century.  Most of the interior is from the original Romanesque church. The most interesting parts of the inside are the 12th-century capitals, the top part of a column (although they aren't on their original columns anymore).

Another example of a similar door
from a 12th-century Romanesque
church (at the much more famous
Fontevraud Abbey, near Angers)

St-Jacques actually is a national historical monument, but it's not really a major tourist site, so it's not open to the public. Like the other churches, I had to visit it at the end of Mass one Sunday. It's small, so like at St-Similien, I was easily recognized as a new person. This time, the church's cantor noticed me, and once I explained why I was there (the 12th century is, of course, the best of all centuries), he wanted to point out all the original architecture, especially the capitals.

Restored 19th-century
exterior.

But as usual, the church had to close after Mass. They actually closed it so quickly that they almost locked me inside. I never had another chance to visit it again, which is unfortunate, especially since my pictures all turned out kind of blurry.

Apse of St-Jacques.

The three 12th-century capitals.

The altar and apse.

I couldn't zoom in any more clearly than this, but there is
a small inscription there, the date "1180"

Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bonne-Garde

Location: Rue de Bonne Garde
 

Just down the street from St-Jacques is the small Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bonne-Garde, which always seems to be open, although I never saw anyone inside. It's not as old at St-Jacques; it was originally built in the mid-17th century, but it was also rebuilt in the 19th century. When it was originally built, it would have been the last chapel on the road away from Nantes, towards Clisson to the south.

Hôpital St-Jacques 

 

The Church of St-Jacques used to be the chapel of a Benedictine monastery. The monastery itself no longer exists, but the church is now just outside a large hospital, the Hôpital St-Jacques. It's a national historical monument too, and it is always open, but it's also a functioning hospital so I didn't wander around too much.

At the entrance there are these two statues. I don't know who they are, but I would guess Hippocrates and Asclepius. They don't seem to be labelled, but I'm sure there are clues in the statues themselves that art historians would recognize!