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Origin and history

The Benedictine convent of Cahors finds its origins in a basilica built in the seventh century by Bishop Desidermis in honor of the Virgin. This place became in the 13th century the monastery of Notre-Dame de la Daurade, occupied by Benedictines from the middle of the 12th century, as evidenced by the capitular hall dated from this period. The church, mentioned in 945, originally belonged to a community of clerics before welcoming the nuns. The capitular hall, atypical by its opening on the north gallery of the cloister, presents arch vaults carried by columns to capitals inspired by the northern gate of Cahors Cathedral.

In the 17th century, important works transformed the convent: the choir and the large building were rebuilt into brick, while the galleries of the cloister were redesigned. The church, almost entirely destroyed in 1808, today leaves only a 16th-century chapel, a large networked window and remains of the north-dropper wall. The capitular hall, rediscovered in 1989 during works, remains inaccessible and partially collapsed. It preserves double roller berries and columns with adorned capitals, reflecting local Romanesque art.

The monastery, probably founded by Saint Didier, bishop of Cahors from 630 to 655, was destroyed at the Revolution to give way to the garden of the prefecture. Only the 17th century cloister, built on medieval foundations, and elements of the church, integrated into modern urban planning, remain. Archaeological remains, protected since 1990, also include traces of a floor above the capitular hall. This site illustrates the architectural and religious evolution of Cahors, from the early Middle Ages to the modern era.

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