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Origin and history

The former seminary of Laon, located in the department of Aisne in the Hauts-de-France region, has its origins in the seventeenth century. In 1656 Cardinal Caesar d'Estrées acquired a building near his Palace to found a seminary. The latter, adjacent to the ramparts, was between the Palace and the citadel, with direct communication with it until Bishop Sabran had the door walled in the 18th century. The teaching was first provided by the priests of Saint Nicholas of the Chardonnet, then by the Oratorians from 1674. A scholarship for poor pupils, financed by the income of Gizy's priory, was also instituted by Father Jacques de Barillon.

In 1799, the building changed its vocation radically: bought by the commune, it became a prison for prisoners of war, then a boarding school, before returning to prison. In the 19th century, it was transformed into an asylum for deaf, blind or mute girls. Its architecture combines medieval elements (subsoils), 18th and 19th century buildings, as well as a 19th century chapel. The protection under the Historic Monuments, which took place in 2005, concerns these different parts, reflecting its multi-series evolution.

The chapel, basements and elevations of the seminar were included in the inventory of historical monuments by order of 20 July 2005. This monument thus illustrates the functional and architectural changes of a religious building over the centuries, while preserving traces of its medieval and modern past. Today, owned by the municipality of Laon, it bears witness to the educational, prison and social history of the city.

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