In Essonne, this unusual chapel was decorated by Jean Cocteau... before he was buried here.

In the heart of Essonne, in Milly-La-Forêt, a mysterious XIIᵉ century chapel becomes, thanks to Jean Cocteau, a showcase of simplicity and resurrection - a real heritage jewel to (re)discover. In fact, it was the famous French artist's last home. Here's the story of Chapelle Saint-Blaise des Simples.

Near Milly-La-Forêt in Essonne, not far from Jean Cocteau's home, a forgotten chapel has been given a new lease of life thanks to the artist. It has now become a sanctuary for simplicity and poetry, and the final resting place of a great French artistic figure... Welcome to Chapelle Saint-Blaise des Simples.

In the XIIᵉ century, in peaceful Milly-la-Forêt, a maladrerie was built to house lepers seeking healing from Saint Blaise, renowned for his herbal remedies - the famous "simples". Today, only the chapel remains. Abandoned during the French Revolution, it was in turn a prison, a shed, a drying shed... before falling into oblivion.

Then, in the 1950s, the town's elected representatives came up with the idea of rehabilitating the site. They called on Jean Cocteau, then a resident of Milly-la-Forêt since 1947. Touched by the simplicity of the site, Cocteau agreed in 1959 to decorate the interior on the theme of plants and the resurrection, painting plants such as belladonna, mint and valerian with gouache on lime, as well as frescoes depicting the resurrection and a Christ crowned with thorns.

He also designed the non-figurative stained-glass windows. When Cocteau died in 1963, he had expressed the wish to be buried in the chapel he had brought back to life. In 1964, his body was transferred there, and a tombstone engraved with the words "Je reste avec vous" ("I remain with you") has since marked his eternal resting place.

The site remains a moving testimony to his artistic vision: flowering stems climbing towards the sky, guardian angels, a resurrected Christ... so many drawings that combine poetry, spirituality and symbolism. The Chapelle Saint-Blaise des Simples has been listed as a Monument Historique since 1982, and was classified in its entirety in 2015. The small adjacent garden, planted with simples, evokes the medieval tradition of medicinal plants.

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