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Origin and history

The Feuillants convent, officially named the Royal Monastery of Saint-Bernard, was founded in 1587 by Henry III for Reformed Cistercians. Set up on Rue Saint-Honoré, it became a symbol of the Counter-Reform, with the support of the Bourbons, including Henri IV and Louis XIII, who financed its church and monumental façade designed by François Mansart.

During the Revolution, the convent was secularized in 1790 and became a political place, home to the Club des Feuillants and serving as a workshop for Jacques-Louis David for Le Serment du jeu de palme. The church, stripped of its art works, was demolished under the Consulate to pierce the street of Rivoli, leaving only related buildings (no 229-235 rue Saint-Honoré) and the rounded bedside of the church, still visible today.

The architecture of the convent blended Gothic tradition and Baroque innovations, with a nave flanked by side chapels and a cloister decorated with frescoes. Among his treasures were tombs of nobles (family of Rostaing, Marillac) and works by Simon Vouet or Philippe de Buyster. The library, rich in 24,000 volumes, and the apothecary of carved woodwork showed its prestige.

The gardens, designed by André Le Nôtre in 1666, completed this set before its progressive destruction from 1801. The current remains, classified as Historic Monuments in 1987, recall its religious importance and its role in French political history.

The convent was also a burial place for figures such as Jean Goulu, a literary enemy of Balzac, or the hearts of nobles (the family of Roquelaure). His refectory housed paintings by John II Restout, now scattered between the Louvre and Saint-Roch. The chapel of the Rostaings, decorated with marble priests, was immortalized by Louis Daguerre before the demolition.

The end of the convent is part of the major Haussmannian works, with the creation of the rue de Castiglione and the disappearance of its classical portal, designed by Liberal Bruand. Only the neoclassical building of Denis Antoine (1776-1782) remains, a witness to his monastic and revolutionary past.

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