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Origin and history

The Hotel de Ressouches is a 3rd quarter-century mansion located in Mende, Lozère. Its origins date back to the 14th century when it belonged to the Bompard family, including Virgile Bompard, Bishop of Mende from 1372 to 1375. According to tradition, the house would have housed a thorn of the Holy Crown, offered by Pope Urban V, a native of the region, to enrich the treasure of the cathedral under construction. This relic would have given his name to the street where the hotel stands.

In the 17th century, the Buisson de Ressouches family, owner since 1639, undertook major improvements, including the courtyard door and a stone Renaissance staircase, dated 1665. These elements, inscribed in the Historical Monuments in 1946, bear the coat of arms of the family. The hotel then changed hands, passing to the Blanquet in 1780, then to Lamy and Rieu in 1887, who installed a power station there, making Mende one of the first illuminated capitals in France in 1888.

The building has an industrial vocation until 1974, under various companies (Majorel, Lozerian Energy Society, EDF). After its closure, it was transformed into a departmental museum (Musée Ignon-Fabre, 1976-1995), then into the Musée du Gévaudan in 2022, home to Lozérian archaeological and historical collections. Its history thus reflects the changes of Mende, from the aristocratic home to the pioneer factory, before becoming again a major cultural place.

The hotel preserves traces of its medieval and classical past, such as the street of the Epine, named after the relic, and the remains of its industrial period, now buried. Its ramp-on-rape staircase and doric door, decorated with volutes and pilasters, illustrate the civil architecture of the Great Century, while its courtyard, closed in 1977, structure it together.

The present museum perpetuates the mission of the Lozère Society of Arts, Science and Arts (established in 1819), which collected Gallo-Roman objects (Sites de Javols, Lanuéjols) from the 19th century. These collections, preserved after the closure of 1995, were resettled in 2022, making Mende the last capital to establish a departmental museum.

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