Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Penthemont Abbey was founded in 1217 as a Cistercian monastery near Beauvais by Bishop Philippe de Dreux. Displaced at Beauvais intra-muros in 1646 after a flood, it was transferred to Paris in 1672 under the impulse of the abbesse Hélène de Constantin de Tourville. Located in the former Augustine convent of the Incarnate Word, it welcomes young girls of the nobility, such as Louise-Adélaïde de Bourbon-Condé or Josephine de Beauharnais, and leads an active social life despite her religious vocation.

In the 18th century, the Abbess Marie-Catherine de Béthizy de Mézières undertook a complete reconstruction of the old buildings, entrusting the plans to Pierre Contant d'Ivry. The works, begun in 1747, extended until the Revolution, despite precarious financing. The chapel, blessed in 1756, adopts a plan centered with dome, while the convent organizes around a courtyard. The technique of the sarrazine vault, introduced by Contant d-Ivry, marks its architecture.

The Revolution abolished the abbey in 1790. The chapel, granted to Protestants in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte, became a temple after 1843, renovated by Victor Baltard. The rest of the buildings were converted into barracks (1803), and the Department of Veterans Affairs in the 20th century. In 2019, after a sale to a private company, the site hosts the headquarters of Yves Saint Laurent, keeping only some original elements such as the vestibule or stairwell.

The Protestant temple of Penthemont, inaugurated in 1846, still houses an organ of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll (1847). Ranked as a historical monument on several occasions (1983, 2013), the site illustrates the changes in a religious heritage, moving from an aristocratic convent to a Protestant place of worship, then for civil use, while preserving traces of its architectural history.

Among the notable figures, the Abbess Hélène de Tourville (died 1715) played a key role in the Parisian transfer, while Marie-Catherine de Béthizy de Mézières pushed reconstruction. The architects Pierre Contant d'Ivry and Victor Baltard leave their mark, respectively for the convent and its transformation into a temple. The Cardinal of Rohan-Soubise and the Dauphin contribute financially to the work.

The protections under the Historic Monuments cover the chapel (1983), the facades and roofs of the convent building, as well as the interior lounges (1992). The 2013 ranking concerns the entire old abbey, highlighting its heritage value despite successive transformations.

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