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Origin and history

The convent of the Ursulines de la Davrays, founded in the 17th century in Ancenis-Saint-Géréon, was built thanks to the impulse of Françoise de Lorraine, Baroness of Ancenis, and the gifts of Louis XIV. The nuns built a chapel, a cloister and a boarding school to educate young girls, rich or poor, while providing free care. The estate, initially a fief of the bishopric of Nantes, became a place of education and charity until 1792.

In 1792 the Revolution drove out the Ursulines, and the convent, confiscated, was transformed into a military hospital and then into a forage store. Under the Empire he served as a prison for Austrian soldiers. In 1875, the Army adjusted the Rohan barracks to house infantry regiments, before the site was partially demolished and rehabilitated in civilian quarters from 1995. Today, it houses housing, administrative services and a theatre.

The chapel and the convent buildings, classified as historical monuments in 1990, illustrate a classical architecture combining schist, granite and tuffeau. The cloister, open to the south, and the 60-metre-long boarding school reflect the original spatial organization. After decades of abandonment and threats of destruction, the site was saved by its ranking, and then redesigned in 2012 to combine heritage and modernity.

The Rohan district, born of this rehabilitation, now welcomes the community of communes of the Pays d'Ancenis, the association of local history, and apartments in the floors of the cloister. The restored chapel serves for concerts and exhibitions, while the Ursulines Garden houses contemporary sculptures. This place symbolizes the transition from a religious and military heritage to a cultural and residential vocation.

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