Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Chapel of the Capuchins of Valencia, located 4 Place Laennec, is a former convent built between 1620 and 1630 by the Capuchins, an order active in the Tridentine reform. Installed on the banks of the Rhone River, it would have been built on a pile of a Roman bridge, which partially protected it from flooding. Its atypical orientation (choir to the west) and its pebbly machine alternating with flat stones reflect local techniques.

At the time of the Revolution, the convent was sold as a national good in 1791, and then transformed into a hospital in the early 19th century, a function it retained until the 1970s. The chapel, restored to worship as a hospital chapel, is decorated at the end of the eighteenth century of trompe-l'oeil (false architectures and perspectives). Disused in 1991 after her assignment to the DDE, she now serves as a meeting room and exhibition room.

The inside, rectangular, presents a 17th century altarpiece dedicated to Saint Venance (local patron saint), murals in grey, and two side chapels. The first, vaulted in cribs, houses a altarpiece with the Virgin adorned with the Lamb on the Book of Seven Seals, a rare theme. The second, dedicated to Saint Benedict, preserves a polychrome statue of Saint Venance, probably added in the 19th century. Eight paintings of capuchin saints, now preserved elsewhere, once adorned the walls.

The sober facade, typical of Capuchin architecture, combines a classic gate in the middle of a hanger surmounted by a broken pediment and a niche housing Saint Venance. The visible exterior walls, especially on the south side, reveal a combination of Rhone pebbles and flat stones. The hypothesis of a common Italian architect with the nearby Abbey of Soyons remains plausible but unconfirmed.

Classified as a historical monument in 1997, the chapel bears witness to the religious and hospital history of Valencia. Its classified furniture (retreadables, paintings) is now scattered between the Departmental Archives and the Conservatoire du Patrimoine. The structure, integrated into buildings of various periods, illustrates the successive reallocations of a religious heritage after secularization.

External links