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Origin and history

The Convent of the Lady of the Congregation of Laon was founded in 1622 by the patent letter of Louis XIII, despite the opposition of the local bourgeois. The sisters were initially housed in Petit-saint-Vincent during construction, which began in 1624 with the laying of the first stone by Bishop Philibert de Brichanteau. The latter offered materials such as wood and lead for work. The convent, dedicated to the education of girls, had four classes, two gardens and 80 rooms.

Closed in 1791 by the revolutionary authorities after the nuns refused to take the oath, the convent was transformed in 1794: the chapel became a guard corps, a voting room, and then a prison. In 1808, the establishment reopened, but the chapel was definitely converted into a house of justice and arrest in 1831, a function it retained until 1973. Despite these transformations, the original plan of the convent, organized around a cloister, was preserved in its entirety.

The facade of the old chapel, in limestone, was classified at the Historic Monuments in 1980. The other buildings, made of brick and stone, cover a coherent architectural ensemble, although partially modified in the 19th century. Today, the site, owned by the department of Aisne, is partly abandoned since 1973, but retains remarkable elements such as a portal dated 1694 and a wing decorated with stuccos, probable vestige of the choir of the nuns.

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