Châteauneuf-du-Faou (, before 1958: ''Châteauneuf'') is a commune in the

Finistère Finistère (, ; ) is a Departments of France, department of France in the extreme west of Brittany. Its prefecture is Quimper and its largest city is Brest, France, Brest. In 2019, it had a population of 915,090.department of

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

in north-western

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Geography

Châteauneuf-du-Faou is located in the middle of Brittany, between

Monts d'Arrée The Monts d'Arrée, or Menezioù Are in Breton, are an ancient mountain range in western Brittany, which forms part of the Armorican massif The Armorican Massif (, ) is a geologic massif that covers a large area in the northwest of France, in ...

and

Montagne Noire The Montagne Noire (; , known as the 'Black Mountain' in English) is a mountain range in central southern France. It is located at the southwestern end of the Massif Central at the juncture of the Tarn, Hérault and Aude departments. Its highe ...

. The town is built on a hill overlooking the

Canal de Nantes à Brest Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow u ...

, which is the canalized river

Aulne The Aulne (; ) is a long river of Brittany in north-western France, flowing down the hills and emptying into the roadstead of Brest, one of the many fjord-like bays just south of Brest. The river is part of the Canal de Nantes à Brest, the na ...

. The bridge over this waterway was built in 1638, when

Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown. ...

was king of France, and is known as the "Old King's Bridge".

Map

Population

International relations

Châteauneuf-du-Faou is twinned with the English town of

South Brent South Brent is a large village on the southern edge of Dartmoor, England, in the valley of the River Avon. The parish includes the small hamlets of Aish, Harbourneford, Lutton, Brent Mill, and many scattered farmhouses. It is five miles (8& ...

, and the Spanish town

Chinchón Chinchón () is a town and municipality in the Community of Madrid, Spain. Located 50 km south-east of the city of Madrid, the municipality covers an area of 115.91 km2. , it has a population of 5,239. Its historic centre, with a notab ...

Name

The inhabitants of Châteauneuf-du-Faou are known in

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

as ''Châteauneuviens''.

The Breton language

On 6 November 2006 the municipality launched a linguistic plan through

Ya d'ar brezhoneg (, ) is a campaign started in the 21st century by the () to promote and stimulate the use of the Breton language in daily life in Brittany, northwestern France. Breton is a Brythonic Celtic language which has fallen out of general use since the ...

. In 2008, 10.4% of primary-school children in the area attended bilingual schools.

History

There is strong evidence that people have lived in this area for thousands of years. A large number of

tumuli A tumulus (: tumuli) is a mound of Soil, earth and Rock (geology), stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, mounds, howes, or in Siberia and Central Asia as ''kurgans'', and may be found through ...

discovered near the sides of the road from Châteaulin to Carhaix testify to the density of the prehistoric population. Burial sites from the

Bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

and

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

s have also been found. Roman coins from the reigns of the emperors

Gallienus Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus (; – September 268) was Roman emperor with his father Valerian from 253 to 260 and alone from 260 to 268. He ruled during the Crisis of the Third Century that nearly caused the collapse of the empire. He ...

and

Aurelian Aurelian (; ; 9 September ) was a Roman emperor who reigned from 270 to 275 AD during the Crisis of the Third Century. As emperor, he won an unprecedented series of military victories which reunited the Roman Empire after it had nearly disinte ...

were discovered in 1878. During its history Châteauneuf-du-Faou was given different names in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and French: * "Castellum novum" in the 12th century * "Castrum novum" in 1217 * "Castrum novum in fago" between 1330 and 1368 * Châteauneuf-du-Faou in 1391. This is Châteauneuf-du-Faou or “Kastell-Nevez-ar-Faou” in the

Breton language Breton (, , ; or in Morbihan) is a Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic languages, Celtic language group spoken in Brittany, part of modern-day France. It is the only Celtic language still widely in use on the European mainland, albei ...

It translates to "the New Castle in the Country." Castrum Novum, a new fortress, was built by the lords of Faou. They belonged to a branch of the house of Léon. The fortress was seized in 1186 by Guihomarch and Hervé de Léon, and subsequently belonged to the Viscounts of Léon until it was confiscated by John VI,

Duke of Brittany This is a list of rulers of Brittany. In different epochs the rulers of Brittany were kings, princes, and dukes. The Breton ruler was sometimes elected, sometimes attained the position by conquest or intrigue, or by hereditary right. Hereditary ...

, in 1420. The castle was slighted in 1440. The town has experienced some riots and wars during its history. The worst day in its history was on 23 March 1593. The

War of Religion A religious war or a war of religion, sometimes also known as a holy war (), is a war and conflict which is primarily caused or justified by differences in religion and beliefs. In the modern period, there are frequent debates over the extent t ...

which started in 1589 was about to end. Only four months were remaining before

Henry IV of France Henry IV (; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry (''le Bon Roi Henri'') or Henry the Great (''Henri le Grand''), was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 16 ...

's conversion to

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

with his famous “Paris vaut bien une messe'' (" Paris is well worth a Mass"). On that spring day, in March 1593, Châteauneuf-du-Faou was invaded by hundreds of armed

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

s. Houses were burnt and the inhabitants were murdered. The story is told that a Huguenot soldier seized a holy ciborium and threw it onto the ground. The priest picked it up and swallowed the

Hosts A host is a person responsible for guests at an event or for providing hospitality during it. Host may also refer to: Places * Host, Pennsylvania, a village in Berks County * Host Island, in the Wilhelm Archipelago, Antarctica People * ...

, only to be killed by the soldier. This story is depicted on one of the

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

windows of the chapel of Notre-Dame-des-Portes. The Revolt of the papier timbré (or, as it was called in Brittany, the Revolt of the Red Bonnets, did not spare Châteauneuf-du-Faou. Angry

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasan ...

s burned the castle in 1675. In 1438 a statue of the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

was found inside an old tree. Looked on as miraculous, the find was celebrated by the building of the chapel of Notre-Dame-des-Portes, a very popular place for pilgrimage throughout

Transport

Châteauneuf-du-Faou had a station on the

Réseau Breton The term réseau derives from a French word meaning "network". It may mean: *a network of fine lines on a glass plate, used in photographic telescopes to make a corresponding network on photographs of the stars: see Réseau plate *a system of weat ...

railway. The station was on the

Carhaix Carhaix-Plouguer (; ), commonly known as just Carhaix (), is a commune in the French department of Finistère, region of Brittany, France. The commune was created in 1957 by the merger of the former communes Carhaix and Plouguer.

- Camaret line, it opened on 30 October 1904 and closed on 9 April 1967.

Art and culture

Notre-Dame-des-Portes is closely associated with the artist

Paul Sérusier Paul Sérusier (; 9 November 1864 – 7 October 1927) was a French painter who was a pioneer of abstract art and an inspiration for the avant-garde Nabis movement, Synthetism and Cloisonnism. Education Sérusier was born in Paris. He studie ...

, after whom a road in the village is now named. He was a mystic artist and a founder of the group who called themselves

Les Nabis The Nabis (, ) were a group of young French artists active in Paris from 1888 until 1900, who played a large part in the transition from Impressionism and academic art to abstract art, symbolism and the other early movements of modernism. The me ...

, after the

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

word for

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divinity, divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings ...

s. He lived in Châteauneuf-du-Faou for several years. In 1894 he painted an inspiring picture, ''The Pardon of Notre-Dame-Des-Portes at Chateauneuf-Du-Faou'' This painting is now in the Musee des Beaux-Arts at

Quimper Quimper (, ; ; or ) is a Communes of France, commune and Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Finistère Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in northwestern France. Administration Quimper is the ...

. Sérusier was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, but the traditions and culture of Brittany made him say: The "Pardon" ceremony is an old tradition in Brittany.

Randolph Caldecott Randolph Caldecott ( ; 22 March 1846 – 12 February 1886) was a British artist and illustrator, born in Chester. The Caldecott Medal was named in his honour. He exercised his art chiefly in book illustrations. His abilities as an artist were pr ...

visited Châteauneuf-du-Faou in 1874 and made sketches of a Pardon which took place in the rain. The Pardon which is celebrated in Notre-Dame-des-Portes at the end of August is one of the most famous in Brittany.

References

External links

Official website
*
Mayors of Finistère Association
; {{DEFAULTSORT:Chateauneufdufaou Communes of Finistère