Chapelle Saint-Blaise des Simples

Let's discover this iconic chapel in Milly-la-Forêt, a testimony of the rich past of the city where Jean Cocteau is buried.
This chapel from the 12th century is the last testimony of the old leprosarium of Milly-la-Forêt, where lepers used to pray Saint-Blaise le Guériesseur (the Healer).

It was abandoned during the 18th century and was used for different things such as a prison, a shed and a kiln.

In 1959, Jean Cocteau was asked by the mayor to decorate the chapel with apintings about plants and the resurrection.

Cocteau also aksed to be buried in the chapel. In the middle of the building, a tombstone is engraved with his name, and his last boyfriend's name and those simple words of fidelity "I stay with you".

The garden surrounding the chapel is an echo to the traditional medicinal plants cultivation in Milly. Those plants also called "simples" were once used to heal lepers.