MONUMENT
Saint-Mathieu de Fine Terre Abbey
At the foot of the high ribbed vaults and Romanesque pillars, first use your senses: the atmosphere here is supernatural! Next, you'll be able to take in the history of the site: before you stand the remains of an abbey church built in the 11th century, then remodeled in the 14th and 16th centuries. Until the French Revolution, Benedictine monks prayed, worked and welcomed numerous pilgrims who came to venerate a relic of the apostle Saint-Mathieu.
Au cours du temps, elle a connu plusieurs invasions et bien des évolutions ! Sans jamais révéler l’énigme de son origine…La légende raconte qu’un premier monastère l’a précédée, fondé au VIème siècle par Saint-Tanguy. Rendez-vous en haut du phare de Saint-Mathieu et au Musée de l’Abbaye pour admirer ce monument sous toutes ses coutures !
VISIT
The Abbey Museum
Vous découvrirez ici une exposition historique sur le peuplement de la pointe de Saint-Mathieu, la vie monastique, l’abbaye dans l’Histoire et le rôle de vigie assuré par les moines qui animaient un feu au sommet de la tour carrée pour guider les marins. Des photos et maquettes détaillent l’architecture de l’édifice gothique. En été, des animations et des visites guidées sont proposées par l’association « Les Amis de Saint-Mathieu ».
PILGRIMAGE
La Voie de la pointe Saint-Mathieu
A milestone carved with a scallop shell symbolizes the start of your pilgrimage. From the Saint-Mathieu de Fine Terre abbey, 1958 kilometers separate you from Santiago de Compostela and the apostle's tomb. The "Voie de la pointe Saint-Mathieu" is a beautiful route, between coastal paths and inland roads through Finistère, Morbihan, to the other Breton routes and Clisson.
CHAPEL
Notre-Dame de Grâce chapel
At the heart of a trading village that numbered 250 souls at the end of the 18th century, Notre-Dame de Grâce chapel was the church of the hamlet of Saint-Mathieu. An attractive, well-preserved voussoir porch gives an idea of the extent of the site.
Open daily to visitors, the chapel's sober interior is conducive to meditation. A polychrome statue depicts Saint-Tanguy, legendary founder of the first monastery at Pointe Saint-Mathieu in the 6th century. His sister, the famous Sainte-Haude de Trémazan, is also immortalized.
Legend
Some sailors from Léon were in Cairo, Egypt, where Saint-Mathieu was buried. At the apostle's request, they transported his body to the south-western tip of Léon. Tanguy, abbot of Le Relecq, was entrusted with the task of founding the abbey whose walls still stand today. That's why this point, known as Penn ar Bed, "le Bout du Monde", became known as "Saint Mathieu du Bout du Monde".
Based on Mikael Madeg, Histoires de naufrageurs et autres légendes du Léon, Editions Emgleo Breiz, 2014.