In Bressuire (Deux-Sèvres), whether you are an atheist or a practicing Catholic, an anticlerical or a holy water font, a detour is required by the old chapel of the Notre-Dame school. A jewel of naive art is offered to the view of visitors, at each Christmas period: the animated crib of Abbot Rochard. Arranged on a 45 square meter platform, this installation on the fringes of tourist circuits recreates the Nativity scene in a deluge of candor and ingenuity. Connected to invisible motors, 120 figurines are activated simultaneously on a soundtrack broadcasting the voice of their creator, a “handyman priest” who died in 2003.
Directed from a control room located under the stage, the model celebrates Christmas morning as much as the “holy” recuperation.
The goats graze, the hens peck, the ox ruminates, the blacksmith bangs on his anvil and the washerwomen on their laundry, while Joseph kneels in front of a little Jesus gesturing in the middle of a reversible mattress. Directed from a control room located under the stage, the model celebrates Christmas morning as much as the “holy” recuperation. A skilful assembly of celluloid bathers, plastic animals, Meccano parts, champagne corks, medical infusion tubes, inner tube valves and PTT stamped telephone relays brings this miniature sound and light to life. , restored by a squad of furious jack-of-all-trades.
Their “spiritual father”, Alfred Rochard, was first parish priest in Saint-Martin-du-Fouilloux (Maine-et-Loire) where, not shying away from any audacity, he had installed a photoelectric cell above the door of the church. A voice message was triggered at each passage: “You are entering the house of God. Don’t leave her without saying a prayer. “ A frenzied inventor, the priest had also developed prototypes worthy of the Lépine competition: a heating blanket, a homemade telephone connecting him to his sacristan or even a “rabbit trap” made up of a retractable wire stretched under the grille of his car. .
Transferred to Bressuire in 1973, he then took with him his automated nursery, started twenty years earlier. Before his death, he will donate it to the Benedictine monks of Ligugé Abbey (Vienne) who, not knowing what to do with it, will in turn give it to the municipality. In 2004, an association logically called La crèche animée was born. Puffed by moths and vermin, the 3D fresco is retyped, fireproofed and modernized by volunteers with fairy fingers, some electricians, and others electronic equipment repairers.
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