Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Cordeliers d'Embrun convent, founded in the 13th century under the impulse of the Dolphins of Vienna, was originally built outside the ramparts before being destroyed and rebuilt in the 14th century by the Dauphin Humbert II. The latter attached an annual levy on wheat and wine for a thousand years. The present building, built between 1413 and 1443, was consecrated in 1447. His church housed Franciscan monks, called Cordeliers, who settled near the former parish of Saint Vincent.

In 1352, Pope Clement VI formalized their presence by a pontifical bubble aimed at eradicating the Vaudese heresy in the region. The convent then depended on the Franciscan province of Saint-François, whose general chapter was at Moirans, near Grenoble. Under Louis XIII (1633), the citadel of Embrun was razed, and its lands ceded to the Capuchins, who built a new convent (1644–45) decorated with frescoes and supported by local gifts, including that of the sacristan Hugues Emé.

After the Revolution, the church became a grain hall, partially destroyed by a fire in 1907. The northern chapels, spared, now house the tourist office. The murals of the 15th to 16th centuries, works by Italian artists, were rediscovered under coatings in 1969 and restored. The site, protected since 1971, preserves remains of the refectory, cloister, and classified frescoes.

The convent illustrates medieval religious struggles (against the Vaudians), the influence of the Vienna dolphins, and the local patronage. Its decline reflects the post-revolutionary upheavals, while its frescoes bear witness to the Alpine artistic exchanges with Italy. The reassignment in tourist office continues to anchor itself in the life of spray.

External links