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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The chapel of the Dominicans of Viviers, also known as the chapel of Notre-Dame-du-Rhône, finds its origins in a first church founded before the 6th century, where Bishop Venance de Viviers was buried in 544. This religious site, destroyed and rebuilt several times, was occupied by Benedictines in the 7th century, then by Dominicans of Sainte-Catherine-de-Sienne from 1624. The latter undertook a major reconstruction between 1732 and 1743, under the direction of architect Jean-Baptiste Franque and entrepreneur Claude Projet, with the support of the bishop of Viviers.

The new chapel, whose first stone was laid in 1734, was blessed in 1738 and consecrated on 11 Oct. 1739. Its sober architecture, marked by an elegant elevation and discreet carved elements, is inspired by Franque's achievements in Provence. The total cost of the work rose to 37,000 pounds tournaments. At the Revolution, the monastery was seized as a national good, then converted into a warehouse, tile factory, and finally into a school from 1908. The building, never desecrated despite its secular uses, was classified as a historic monument in 1967, with complementary protections in 2020 and 2024.

The choir of the nuns, separated from the nave after the Revolution, presents a flat vault with double arches on pendants, characteristic of Franque's art. The facades, made of local limestone, combine verticality and classicism, with ionic pilasters and a triangular pediment. The interior, stripped of its original furniture, retains a unique vaulted nave in arch-of-cloister with bezel, illuminated by an axial bay. The subsequent graffiti and modifications testify to the multiple reallocations of the site, now shared between a diocesan association and the commune of Viviers, which is working on its rehabilitation.

The excavations carried out during the reconstruction of 1625 revealed tombs with aerial inscriptions, highlighting the former occupation of the site. The convent, enlarged between 1733 and 1743, included pre-existing buildings, such as the refectory in the old cloister. After the Revolution, the cadastral division definitively separated the choir from the nuns of the nave, while the attic, supported by brick pillars, once housed the dormitories. The chapel is part of an architectural ensemble consistent with other works by Franque, such as the Chartreuse de Valbonne or the Sainte-Marthe Hospital in Avignon.

Today, the Notre-Dame-du-Rhône chapel, although emptied of its liturgical furniture, retains a strong heritage value. Its entrance porch, arches and bridge, classified in 2024, complete the initial protection of 1967. The municipality, owner of the choir of nuns since 2018, has been working with the Diocesan association to restore this rare testimony of 18th-century female religious architecture in Ardèche, while preserving the traces of its successive uses, from the industrial warehouse to the current school.

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