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Case of Visitation of Limoges en Haute-Vienne

Patrimoine classé
Patrimoine militaire
Caserne
Couvent

Case of Visitation of Limoges

    13 Rue François-Chénieux
    87000 Limoges
Owned by the department; property of the municipality
Caserne de la Visitation de Limoges
Caserne de la Visitation de Limoges
Caserne de la Visitation de Limoges
Caserne de la Visitation de Limoges
Caserne de la Visitation de Limoges
Caserne de la Visitation de Limoges
Caserne de la Visitation de Limoges
Caserne de la Visitation de Limoges
Caserne de la Visitation de Limoges
Caserne de la Visitation de Limoges
Crédit photo : Babsy - Sous licence Creative Commons

Timeline

Renaissance
Temps modernes
Révolution/Empire
XIXe siècle
Époque contemporaine
1600
1700
1800
1900
2000
1643
Foundation of the convent
1650-1680
Construction of the monastery
vers 1775
Renovation by Brousseau
2011
Inauguration Hotel du Département
2016
Opening of the chapel to the public
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui

Heritage classified

The Chapel of the Visitation, the cloister and the door to the courtyard (Box DN 45, 96): inscription by order of 16 September 1949

Key figures

Françoise-Gabrielle de Douhet - Religious visitor Founder of the convent in 1643.
Brousseau - Limousin architect Author of the 18th century works.

Origin and history

The Visitation barracks came into being in 1643 when Françoise-Gabrielle de Douhet, a visiting nun, founded with six sisters the first institute of order in Limoges. Set up in modest houses along the road to Paris (now rue François Chénieux), they gradually developed a convent between 1650 and 1680, with chapel, corps-de-logis and cloître. This work transforms a simple set of houses into a structured monastery, reflecting the expansion of the post-Catholic Reform religious communities in Limousin.

In the 18th century, the Limousin architect Brousseau began a major overhaul of the site around 1775. It integrates the church with the convent buildings, remodels the southeast part and removes the original oratory. This project is part of a series of local creations in Brousseau, such as the palace of the bishopric or the lycée Gay-Lussac. The Revolution chased the nuns in 1790, and the convent, confiscated, became a military barracks, marking a radical change of vocation for the places.

In 2006, the Department of Haute-Vienne acquired the site to consolidate its previously dispersed services. The work, launched in 2008, transforms the former barracks into Hotel du Département, inaugurated in 2011. The chapel, restored in 2015, is today a versatile space (theatre, exhibitions) open to the public since 2016. This project combines heritage preservation and administrative modernization, while restoring a civil and cultural dimension to the monument.

The site preserves remarkable architectural elements, such as the cloister with the thirty-two arches full hanger of the seventeenth century or the 18th-century circular chapel, classified as Historic Monument in 1949. The entrance door, framed by doric pilasters and surmounted by a triangular pediment, bears witness to the visitandine identity of the place. These vestiges illustrate the successive phases of construction, from convenential origins to military and administrative adaptation.

External links