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Origin and history

The Ursuline convent of Vesoul, founded in the early seventeenth century, is part of the expansion of the order of Sainte-Ursule in Franche-Comté. The nuns, initially headed by Anne de Xainctonge, first moved to a rented house in 1615 before beginning the construction of a chapel from 1632. The current convent, built between 1680 and 1683 by Savoyard masons Nicolas Amoudru and Nicolas Choutants, organizes around an inner courtyard, with a Renaissance porch overlooking the Ursulines street. The Ursulines gradually built the site, moving even the wall of the city in 1695 to create a garden, then adding a stable and a school building in 1716.

The French Revolution marked a turning point: the convent was closed, sold as a national good, and converted into a departmental archives, then into a prison from 1808 to 1835. In the 19th century, it housed a Normal School and a municipal theatre in the old church, while archives left the place around 1850. Despite the destruction of some interior developments, the facades and volumes retained their 18th-century appearance. In 1981, the municipal museum of archaeology and fine arts (now the Jean-Léon-Gérôme Museum) was transferred to the museum, and part of the buildings was classified as a historical monument in 1992.

The architecture of the convent, sober and functional, reflects its dual religious and educational vocation. The inner courtyard, the heart of the building, now serves as a setting for summer concerts. The entrance porch, decorated with Renaissance niches, and the staircase of the forecourt bear witness to the savoyard artisans' know-how. Although the church and some parts have been changed, the whole remains a remarkable example of the franc-comtois Conventual Heritage, mixing religious, academic and cultural history.

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