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Origin and history

The hotel Bonvalot, also known as Maison des canonines, is a private hotel built in the first half of the 16th century in Besançon, in the Doubs department. Located 4-6 rue du Cingle, behind the water castle of the Arcier spring, it illustrates the residential architecture of the great ecclesiastical lords of the Renaissance. The building, protected as historical monuments since 1926 and 1938, is distinguished by its facade, cloister, and a U-house organizing an inner courtyard extended by a garden with gazebo.

Between 1538 and 1544, the hotel was built for François Bonvalot, uncle of Cardinal Antoine de Granvelle, abbot of the abbeys Saint Vincent de Besançon and Saint-Pierre de Luxeuil, as well as ambassador of Charles-Quint in France. The city provided him with the timber he needed to build in 1540. The building combines stone and stonework, with an honour staircase and a chapel on the first floor. Originally, a belvedere factory decorated with currencies and iconic paintings, described in 1653 by Jules Chifflet, dominated the garden, but has now disappeared.

After the death of François Bonvalot in 1560, the hotel passed into the hands of his family, then to the Bauffremont in the 17th century. In the 19th century, it was acquired by the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family (1827), which transformed it into a boarding school for young girls. Major modifications were made: the house was raised in 1843, the chapel was modified by architect Maximin Painchaux (1855-1857), and Alfred Ducat rebuilt the cochère door in 1866. The wall paintings of the gallery, signed Roberti de Brescia (1856), testify to this period.

Today, Hotel Bonvalot remains the property of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family, still serving as a convent. Its protected elements include the façade, the cloister (registered in 1926), and the cover of a receding building (registered in 1938). The site, marked by its religious and educational history, reflects the architectural and social transformations of Besançon from the 16th to the 19th century.

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