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Origin and history

The convent of the Ladies of Saint-Sauveur was founded in Perpignan between 1230 and 1240 under the rule of Saint Augustine, as a female monastery. This convent, located in the Saint-Jacques district, experienced an architectural expansion until the 14th century. It operated until the French Revolution, when the decree of August 1792 ordered its closure. His estates were sold in 1793, and his buildings, fragmented, were used for a variety of purposes: Masonic lodges, public baths, or gymnasium after being remodeled by architect Léon Baille in 1902.

The capitular hall, built around 1271, is the only preserved element of the original monastery. From a square plan on the ground floor and octagonal upstairs, it was both a meeting place and chapel, with a ribbed vault and broken arched bays. The Gothic cloister disappeared in the 19th century when the École Normale Supérieure was built. The altarpieces of the church, like that of the Transfiguration (1697), were transferred to Vinça. Today, part of the site hosts the Mailly campus of the University of Perpignan.

Listed at the Historic Monuments in 1997, the capitular hall illustrates medieval religious architecture. The convent, partially protected by Perpignan's Safeguard Plan, embodies the urban and cultural transformations of the city, from Augustine canonesses to contemporary reassignments. His history also reflected revolutionary upheavals, with the dispersion of nuns and the sale of goods in 1793.

In the 19th century, the site housed educational institutions (École Normale, Collège Jean Moulin) and public facilities such as baths until 1931. The architect Antoine Margoüet had estimated the properties of the convent in 1792, before their division. Material traces, such as the broken arched door of the Zola impasse, recall its monastic past, while successive reuses testify to its anchoring in Perpignanian life.

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