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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Notre Dame des Junies convent was founded in the 14th century by the family of John, a rich cadurcian lineage linked to the Church. In 1343, Cardinal Gaucelme of John (nevew of Pope John XXII) and his relatives, including Gisbert de Jean (future bishop of Carcassonne), decided to establish there a priory of Dominicans, attached to the monastery of Prouille. The work, begun around 1330-1350, was completed under the direction of Gisbert, as evidenced by a papal bubble of 1355 authorizing the installation of the nuns, effective before 1363. The church, austere and vaulted dogives, slightly precedes the convent, whose buildings organized around a cloister sheltered refectory, capitular room and storage spaces.

The monastery, prosperous thanks to land income (dithies, local priories like Saint Martin de Carnougues), suffers from the wars of Religion in the 16th century. In 1668, an investigation revealed its degraded state and increasing debts (2,650 pounds of expenditure for 2,002 pounds of revenue). The Dominicans remained there until the Revolution, when the convent was sold as a national good and partially demolished. Only the church, which became parishioner in 1801 (under the name Saint-Pierre-ès-Liens), and the capitular hall, classified as Historic Monument in 1995 with the remains of the cloister remain.

The architecture reflects its medieval use: the east wing, better preserved, houses the capitular hall with ogival vaults and an upper room probably reserved for the priory. The west wing, at the 14th century masonries, served as a cellar and cellar, as suggested by traces of cradle vaults and narrow openings. The bell tower, added in 1851, replaced an earlier porch. Recent excavations (2010) have cleared the interior elevations of the western wing, revealing quadrangular pillars and committed arches.

The site illustrates the influence of local noble families (John's) in the foundation of religious institutions, as well as the upheavals suffered by monastic heritage during religious conflicts and the Revolution. Today, the classified remains offer a rare testimony of Dominican architecture in Quercy, between Cistercian austerity and late adaptations.

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