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Origin and history

The former convent of Oveglia, located in Cagnano in Upper Corsica, consists of a church with an elongated plan and conventual buildings organised around a cloister. Built between the 15th and 17th centuries, the church has a central nave vaulted in a glass cradle, flanked by three side chapels (a fourth having disappeared during restorations). Its flat bedside, vaulted in anse-de-panier, and its gate decorated with twin pilasters reflect a sober but elegant architecture. The clocher tower, initially isolated, was integrated into the choir enlarged in the 17th century. Its summit, once with superimposed bells, is now surmounted by a wrought iron cross.

Until the French Revolution, the convent housed a seminary and some sixty monks and conversants of the order of the Capuchins. Confiscated as a national property in 1789, the whole was divided: the church was returned to the commune, while the convent buildings became private property. In the 20th century, the partial abandonment of the site led to the collapse of a wall section in 1927. The current remains include the caves carved in the rock, the cells on the first floor, and a rectangular room behind the choir, an old chapter hall.

The elements protected under the Historic Monuments since 1990 include the chapel (registered on 30 January) and the ruins of the convent (registered on 25 April). The accuracy of the location of the site is considered poor (note 5/10), and its present state is the result of a turbulent history, between religious use, revolutionary spoliation and modern degradation. There is no information on its current accessibility (visits, rentals, or accommodation).

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