Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Hotel de Fesquet occupies the site of the former Collège Saint-Ruf, founded in 1368 in front of the church of the monastery Saint-Germain (future cathedral). The buildings, destroyed in 1560 during the religious unrest, were razed in 1612 to build the citadel. The Canons of Saint-Ruf returned in 1627 and rebuilt their convent between 1627 and 1645, including two houses and a chapel.

In the 18th century, with the order declining, part of the site was rented to the Intendance in 1728. After the order was abolished in 1771, the property passed to the seminary in 1777 and was sold as national property after serving as a prison during the Revolution. The building was then divided into two private hotels. The most notable vestiges of the original constructions (1627-1645) are the gate murated in n°1 and the large staircase of n°3, whose ironworks date back to the 18th century.

Ranked a historic monument in 1964 for its staircase and ironworks, the Hotel de Fesquet illustrates the architectural and functional transformations of a convent in aristocratic residence, reflecting the political and religious upheavals of the 17th and 18th centuries in Languedoc.

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