Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The church and the cloister of the Recollets of Saverne, founded in 1303 as evidence of a door engraving, constitute a former Franciscan convent dedicated to Our Lady of the Annunciation. The site develops in the 14th and 15th centuries with the construction of the church, the cloister in pink sandstone, and the convent buildings. In 1486 the Franciscans established a college there, before the Jesuits took over in 1571, bringing architectural changes like bays in the east gallery. Abandoned in 1595, the convent was taken over by the Franciscans in the 17th century, then transformed into a barracks before being bought by the commune at the beginning of the 19th century to set up a college.

The architectural complex enjoys successive protections as historical monuments: the cloister was classified in 1900, followed by the sacristy (mural painting of the Crucifixion) and two vaulted rooms in 1990, then by the church of Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue in 1993. The latter is home to an organ of 1763 by Louis Dubois, as well as 32 14th century Gregorian sheet musics discovered under its base. The cloister, Gothic architecture, preserves murals, while the convent buildings bear traces of successive occupations (college, barracks) and restorations in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The history of the convent reflects the religious and political upheavals of Alsace: secularization in 1483, passage to Jesuits, abandonment and rehabilitation by Franciscans. After the Revolution, the place became a communal college in 1811, with a fountain of 1733 reused as a wall element. The task marks and inscriptions (like the date 1303 on a lintel) bear witness to its evolution, while recent protections underline its heritage value, mixing medieval heritage, Renaissance, and modern adaptations.

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