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Origin and history

The Hôtel de Fermineau, located in Beaucaire, is a 17th-century monument with a rich Renaissance-style façade. This stone building, composed of a ground floor and two floors decorated with pilasters, bears witness to the artistic influence of the period. Its location in the heart of the city, Place de l'Hôtel-de-Ville, makes it a notable architectural vestige of this period.

In the 17th century, Beaucaire entrusted the education of his young daughters to the Ursulines of Montélimar. In 1664 the congregation acquired the Hotel de Fermineau, then the nearby houses to establish a boarding school. The ensemble was divided into three distinct parts, connected by arches built above the street, of which only one remains today. The hotel, partially protected as historical monuments (facades and roofs in 1935, interior staircase in 1942), remains the main testimony of the 160 years of presence of Ursulines in the city.

The building also illustrates the adaptation of civilian buildings to religious and educational purposes. The Ursulines, by obtaining the right to build covered passages (cradles), modified local urban planning to preserve their cloistered life. Although the associated church has disappeared, the Hotel de Fermineau retains its role as a heritage memory, linked to Beaucaire's social and religious history under the Old Regime.

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