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Origin and history

The Carmelite convent of Tours, founded in the 13th century near the Loire, was rebuilt around 1470 with a church and claustral buildings. After 1634, it became a national property in 1791: the Town Hall of Tours destroyed cloisters and buildings to modify the road, saving the church, transformed into a barn and then a parish of Saint-Saturnin in 1824. The Carmelites finally left the site in 1845 for the rue des Ursulines.

In 1940, a fire ravaged the chapel during World War II. The remaining remains (two wings of the 15th-17th centuries and three decorated capitals) were listed in the Historical Monuments in 1946. Despite this protection, the last buildings were demolished in 1968 for the construction of the university site of the Tanneurs, leaving only the old church, disused.

The excavations of 1967–68 saved three 15th-century capitals, now preserved by the Archaeological Society of Touraine. The convent also housed the burial of Hemon Raguier (died 1433), later transferred. Its initial location, between the rue des Tanneurs and the quays of Loire, is now occupied by modern buildings and university outbuildings.

The architecture combined medieval elements (walled arcades) and classical (northern wing of the seventeenth century). The materials of the buildings destroyed in 1792 were reused for housing, while the church, repaired several times (notably by architect Derouet Moreau in 1785), survived until its destruction in 1940. The private archives mention recurring problems of insalubriity (humidity, darkness) due to the collection of buildings.

The convent illustrates the urban transformations of Tours: first a place of worship and monastic life, it became a post-revolutionary real estate issue, then a victim of the 20th century developments. Its history also reflects the tensions between heritage preservation (registration of 1946) and modernization, with the almost total disappearance of its remains for the benefit of the university.

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