Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The convent of the Cordeliers of Saint-Nizier-Sous-Charlieu, founded by Franciscans who arrived in 1250, began its construction around 1280. The present cloister, of Gothic style, dates from the 14th century (1370-1390) and was financed mainly by the seigneurial family of Châteaumorand, native of Saint-Martin-d'Estréaux. This monument illustrates the austere religious architecture advocated by the Franciscan order, with elements such as inner arches, external foothills adorned with roses, and capitals carved with plant or figurative motifs (singles, snakes, old).

The cloister, saved in extremis at the beginning of the twentieth century, owes its preservation to its conversion into a vegetable garden in the nineteenth century, then to the intervention of the Société des Amis des Arts de Charlieu in 1910. By that date, two of its galleries had already been dismantled for export to the United States, where an American planned to integrate them into a tennis court in California. Ranked a historical monument in 1910 (cloister) and in 1952 (chapel and side chapels), the site also preserves a church from the 14th–15th century, marked by restored murals: primitive floral decoration, depiction of the Virgin with the Child receiving the Franciscan Tau, and view of the church with its missing bell tower.

The church, facing east-west and adjacent to the southern gallery of the cloister, reflects Franciscan simplicity through its austerity and modest size. It once housed two spaces separated by a jube (now disappeared): one for the brothers, the other for the laity. The 17th-century structure, once masked by a ceiling in a panel, and a wooden staircase leading to the attic from the cloister, testify to the subsequent changes. The two southern side chapels, as well as the 15th and 16th century murals, add to the historic richness of the site, mixing religious motifs and symbolic architectural elements such as Tau, the Franciscan emblem.

Future

The site is owned and managed by the Loire department, which offers cultural programming: free and guided tours, temporary exhibitions, shows, concerts, etc.

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