Timeline

Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Carmelite convent of La Rochefoucauld was founded in 1329, when the religious settled in the city. This monastery reached its peak in the 15th and 16th centuries, during which time it was enlarged with additional buildings, a school of philosophy and a school of theology. Its architecture is organized around a cloister built between the late 14th and early 15th centuries, while the church, located in the south wing, dates from the 14th century. In the 17th century, a vaulted hillside was added, and the bell tower, of polygonal shape, houses a spiral staircase probably dating back to the 15th or 16th centuries.

The religious disturbances of the Wars of Religion deeply marked the convent: occupied by the Huguenots between 1563 and 1564, it was looted and ransacked in 1570 and 1572, leaving the places in ruins until the beginning of the seventeenth century. North wing, of Romanesque origin, could be a construction prior to the arrival of the Carmelites, suggesting a reuse of pre-existing buildings. The western and eastern wings underwent major changes between 1883 and 1886 when the convent was transformed into a college.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, the site was adapted to school uses, with major modifications: partitioning of spaces, division of the church into two levels, and reshaping of facades. Despite these transformations, some medieval elements remain, such as the cloister classified as a Historic Monument in 1909. The rest of the convent, including the church and the convent buildings, was registered in 2001. Today owned by the municipality, the site preserves traces of its religious and educational past.

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