LE LANGON
Ille et Vilaine, France.
In the
center of the village is a small building of Gallo-Roman
origin whose original purpose is unknown. Known as the
Chapelle Sainte-Agathe, it is a large rectangular room
with a semicircular vaulted apse at its W end.
The walls, fairly well built, consist of a core of mortared rubble faced with small blocks and having alternating bands of brick. The sides of the apse are decorated
with frescos representing Venus Anadyomene. The goddess is shown rising from the sea beside a winged Cupid
who is riding a dolphin. Fish of all kinds abound in the
water. Although the frescos are faded, the color scheme
of the whole composition can still be distinguished. Apparently the side walls of the building were originally
separate from those of the apse, so that each element
was isolated. When the monument became Christian, the
open space between the side walls and the exedra was
closed with a wall pierced by a semicircular doorway, and
small bays were added to the N and S walls as well as
to the apse.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A. Ramée, “Notes sur le Monument
gallo-romain de Langon,”
RA (1866); F. Dauce, “Historique des recherches sur le Monument gallo-romain de
Langon,”
Annales de Bretagne 68, 1 (1961).
M. PETIT
