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Origin and history

The former convent of the Visitation of Caen, also called the monastery of the Visitation of Sainte-Marie, was founded in the early seventeenth century by the Order of the Visitation in the Bourg-l-Abbé district. This monastery is part of the movement to set up religious establishments following the Counter-Reform, a period when Caen, once marked by a strong Huguenot presence, saw Catholic convents and monasteries multiply. The first nuns, who came from Lyon, moved first to Dol-de-Bretagne in 1627 before settling permanently in Caen in 1631, in a house on Rue Saint-Jean, then in a mansion acquired in 1632 near the monastery of the Capuchins.

Between 1632 and 1661, under the leadership of Marie-Élisabeth de Maupeou and with the financial support of the Harcourt family, architect Guillaume Brodon built the church and the convent buildings. The cloister, erected in the 1650s, has arches in the middle of a circle typical of French classicism, while the church, consecrated in 1668, adopts a plan in Greek cross and a dome bell tower surmounted by a lanternon. The Visitandines, initially engaged in local charitable actions such as the management of the Notre-Dame de Charité shelter for repentant prostitutes (1644-1649), gradually re-focus on contemplative life after the imposition of the closing rule.

The French Revolution marked a turning point: the convent was transformed into a barracks in 1793, after the dissolution of religious orders in 1792. The buildings, occupied by the army, were damaged, and the church, used as a military annex, was destroyed during the 1944 bombings. In the 19th century, the site became the Quartier Lorge, a cavalry barracks, before being partially restored and listed as historical monuments (cloister in 1927, conventual buildings in 1988). Since 2019, the former convent has been home to the Normandy-Caen Regional Contemporary Art Fund, combining heritage and modernity.

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