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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The chapel Notre-Dame-des-Anges de Perpignan is an ancient Gothic chapel located at 40 rue du Maréchal-Foch, on the edge of the Saint-Mathieu district. Built between the end of the 13th century and the beginning of the 14th century, it is associated with the former Franciscan convent, founded according to the legend by Francis d'Assisi at the initiative of the kings of Majorca. It replaces an older religious building and preserves remains of the cloister Saint-François, destroyed in the 19th century.

The building is composed of a unique nave of four arched bays, finished with a flat bedside. The vestiges of the cloister, dated from the early 14th century, include fifteen formets arches on the south wall and two others on the west gallery. The chapel was built as a chapel of the military hospital in the 19th century, before hosting today cultural exhibitions and heritage events.

The chapel was classified as a Historical Monument in 1974 and belongs to the Department of the Pyrénées-Orientales. It now houses the Catalan Heritage House in the former Franciscans' capitular hall. The site is open to the public at events such as Heritage Days, and serves as a framework for projections and exhibitions, such as that of 2018 dedicated to Hyacinthe Campagnach, a blue in the Great War.

Its architecture reflects its link to the Franciscan order, marked by Gothic sobriety and integration into the medieval urban fabric of Perpignan. The warrior allegories added in the 19th century during its military use have now disappeared, leaving room for a cultural and heritage vocation.

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