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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Benavent Hotel, located in Narbonne, occupies the site of the former Hospital of the Cross, attested from the Middle Ages. Although most of the present building dates back to the 17th and 18th centuries, some elements of the large work, such as the small apparatus visible on the posterior façade, may go back to remains of the medieval hospital. The ensemble consists of four bodies of buildings arranged around a square inner courtyard, with a two-storey main body on the ground floor.

The facade on the street, redesigned in the 18th century, preserves traces of older openings, notably the hanger in segment of a 16th century cochère door. The main entrance, axial, takes the form of a rectangular portal framed with bare pilasters, surmounted by a larmal cornice. The next covered passage, capped with French (17th century), opens onto the courtyard by three arches in the middle of the hangar. An 18th-century well, backed by a niche adorned with a decorative shell, agrimented one of the corners of the courtyard.

The building was partially protected under the Historical Monuments by order of 16 July 1984, covering facades, roofs, entrance porch and fountain on courtyard. Its history reflects the successive architectural transformations, from its medieval hospital origins to its residential use in Modern Times. The exact location at 7 rue Louis-Blanc corresponds to the address referenced in the Mérimée base, in the department of Aude (Occitanie region).

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