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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Convent of the Preacher Brothers of Perpignan, founded around 1245 under the impulse of the king of Aragon James I the Conqueror, rises on the site of an ancient leprosy offered to Dominicans. This monument, attached to the province of Provence until the 15th century, became a necropolis for the princes of Majorca and housed a relic of Saint John the Baptist, explaining its imposing architecture and its well preserved southern Gothic style. The convent prospered in the 14th century, marked by figures like Pierre Fabre and Saint Vincent Ferrier, who stayed there at the Council of Real (1408-1415).

The architectural complex, classified as Historic Monuments in 1977, includes a single nave church flanked by side chapels, a revamped cloister in the 15th and 16th centuries, and a 14th century capitular hall, known as the "Miracle House" with reference to a legend linked to St.Dominic. The church, dedicated to Notre-Dame, was enlarged between 1300 and 1330 to adopt the Gothic style, while the cloister, partially destroyed, preserves a western wing of pink brick and galleries with primitive capitals. The Notre-Dame chapel, the former seat of the Third Order, has murals of the late eighteenth century.

The convent experienced major upheavals: driven out in 1793 during the Revolution, the Dominicans left the place abandoned before they were confiscated by the army, which occupied them until the end of the 20th century. In the 21st century, part of the cloister remains used by the military, while the rest of the buildings, owned by the city of Perpignan, host exhibitions such as the festival "Visa for the Image". Its history reflects the political tensions between the kingdoms of Aragon and Majorca, notably with the signing of a treaty in the chapel of Santo Domingo in the 16th century.

The architecture of the convent combines elements of the 13th and 14th centuries, with additions of the 15th, 16th and 18th centuries. The façade of the church has five grouped apses, characteristic of the southern Gothic, while the capitular room, backed by the chapel Saint-Georges, illustrates the Catalan vaulting process. The refectory and dormitory, located in the western wing, date from the 14th and 15th centuries. The remains of the 13th-century cloister-cimetery, to the southwest, recall the initial funerary function of the site.

The convent also owes its fame to relics, such as the left arm of Saint John the Baptist brought in 1324 by a pilgrim of Compostela, and to legends such as that of the parchment of Saint Dominique spared by the flames. These elements, combined with its role in medieval conflicts and its remarkable preservation, make it a major testimony of the religious and political history of the Roussillon.

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