Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Chapel of the Carmelites of Saint-Claude is an ancient chapel of the Order of the Descaled Carmelites, a religious order of Spanish origin. Founded in the 3rd quarter of the 17th century and completed in the 1st quarter of the 18th century, it forms part of a convent set between Rue de la Poyat and the Bonneville district. The Carmelites acquired houses and gardens, transformed into a convent, before the site was sold as a national property in 1790 and converted into private dwellings. The façade, visible at the corner of the Place des Carmes, is the main vestige of this time.

During the French Revolution, the chapel was requisitioned as a meeting room. A striking episode of his history is the cremation of Saint Claude's relics by the without-culottes in his fireplace. Among his later occupants was Désiré Dalloz, a law student at the Collège de Saint-Claude, who lived there after his transformation into a dwelling. The street façade, the only protected element, was listed as historic monuments on 19 July 1977.

Today, the chapel belongs to an association. Its location, between Rue de la Poyat and Place des Carmes, makes it an architectural and historical testimony of the presence of the Carmes déchaux in the Jura. The available sources (Wikipedia, Monumentum, Merimée base) confirm its status as an emblematic monument of Saint-Claude, linked to both local religious history and revolutionary upheavals.

External links