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Origin and history

The Hotel de l'Espine is a former Avignonese mansion built on the site of a convent founded in the 15th century by the Dominicans of Sainte-Praxède. This convent, originally located on Félix-Gras Street, was enlarged to Joseph-Vernet Street in the 17th century. Catherine of Siena prayed there in her chapel, while Marie de Boulogne, wife of Raymond de Turenne, tested her mystical visions there under the orders of Pope Gregory XI. The nuns, who came from Montfavet in 1409, occupied the place until 1769, when they were transferred to the Jesuit novitiate.

At the beginning of the 18th century, André-Louis de Brancas, Count of Rochefort, acquired a plot between Félix-Gras and Joseph-Vernet streets to build a private hotel. He entrusted the plans to architect Jean-Baptiste Franque, whose correspondence attests that the works, begun in 1716, remained unfinished in 1737. His widow, Marie-Virginie de Crillon, bought the entire land in 1711. The hotel then changed hands: bought in 1795 by Louis François Xavier de Merles de Beauchamp, in 1866 he passed to his granddaughter, Marie Louise Émilie, married to the Marquis de l'Espine.

In the 20th century, the Hôtel de l'Espine houses the University Literary College of Avignon (CLU), a precursor of the present University of Avignon. In May 1968, it became a central place for student movements during the Avignon Festival. Since 1956, its facades and roofs have been protected as historical monuments. Today, the building houses the Chamber of Crafts and Crafts of Vaucluse, perpetuating its anchor in local institutional life.

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