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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The chapter of Salles-Arbuissonnas-en-Beaujolais is an architectural complex located in the Rhône department, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Founded in 960 as Benedictine priory under Cluny's authority, it welcomes monks who build a church and cloister there in the 12th century. At the beginning of the fourteenth century, the monks were replaced by thirty Benedictine nuns from a poor priory in Grelonges, an island of the Saône prone to flooding.

Over time, the priory evolves under the influence of young girls of the nobility, gradually abandoning Benedictine monarchy for a more worldly existence. In 1779 it officially became a noble chapter of Countess Canonesses, and in 1781 the Prioress Madame de Ruffey launched an ambitious architectural project, interrupted by the Revolution. The chapter was dissolved in 1790, and its residents left the site.

The architecture of the site includes entrance pavilions classified in 1935, a 12th century Romanesque church classified in 1862, and a cloister partially demolished during the Revolution. The capitular hall, decorated with frescoes of the fifteenth century, and parlor, with its carved vaults, bear witness to its rich past. The chapter is today a geosite of the Beaujolais geopark and houses a museum, Le Prieuré.

The site is marked by figures like Alphonse de Lamartine, whose mother, Alix des Roys, lived there. In his Confedences he describes the free and worldly life of the canonesses, between attenuated religious life and family stays. The last Prioress, Madame de Ruffey, tried in vain to preserve the chapter against the Revolution, ending in prison.

Protected elements include entrance pavilions, wrought iron gate, moat, St.Martin's church, cloister, capitular hall and parlor. Two canonical houses, including that of the Prioress and the present town hall, are also registered. The site illustrates the evolution of a medieval priory into an aristocratic chapter, reflecting the social and religious transformations of the Old Regime.

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