Rénovation de la Chapelle Notre-Dame de Lorette – La Flocellière

History

In 1617, Jacques de Maillé-Brezé, Marquis de la Flocellière promises his beloved Lady Hamilton to build a monastery for the repose of her soul. In 1640 the Carmelite Order arrived in Flocellière and the monastery was dedicated on August 15th, 1658 to Notre Dame de Lorette, where the Marquis had traveled on a pilgrimage.
The building, doomed to ruin after the passage of the "infernal columns" during the French Revolution, was restored thanks to the tenacity of Father Dalin who also built a most faithful replica of the "Santa Casa" of Lorette.

The Municipality assisted by the General Council decided to renovate the deteriorated chapel whose vault had suffered extensive water damage.

The Renovation

he initial solution put forward for the vault renovation was replacement of the existing chestnut battens with Nergalto® expanded metal lath.
However, the company Au Plâtre d’Antan proposed preserving the original technique:

• removal of the old plaster coating, damaged beyond remediation
  
• preservation of the chestnut lath: damaged battens are replaced with new ones, affixed to trusses
• render of base coat plaster (PG 100) applied directly to the lath
• embedding of 5 mm plastic scrim before the setting of the render coat:
  
• finally, application of a 12 mm finish coat of Enduit de Montmorency (ref. PFD 0), trowel finish
  

The chapel has regained all of its former glory ...

… and the cherubs, a new life
Cherubs before	Cherubs after

Product references

• Basecoat Plaster PG 100
• Enduit de Montmorency PFD 0

Links

• Le journal de la Vendée No 125 : Patrimoine - Chapelle Notre Dame de Lorette, Le nouvel éclat de la Santa Casa (see page 5)
• Chapelle on the Flocelliere municipality's website