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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Hôtel des Cadets genshommes was built from 1776 under the direction of Father Ignace Jourbin des Marcères, prosecutor of the priory-hospice Saint-Honoré. Originally designed to expand the hospital and religious domain of Saint-Martin-de-Ré, it was quickly destined for military use by a royal ordinance. On 13 December 1776 Louis XVI made it the future home of the cadets of the nobility, future officers of the colonial battalions.

In 1779 King Louis XVI ordered the minister of Marine Antoine de Sartine to acquire the hotel to set up the School of Gentile Cadets, composed of one company. This school operated until the French Revolution, before being dissolved in 1789. During this period, the building served as a framework for the formation of young nobles for the colonies.

After the Revolution, the building was designated as national property in 1793, but it finally returned to the Hospice in 1804. In 1891 it became the seat of the town hall and the court of Saint-Martin-de-Ré. In 1907, the Ernest Cognacq Museum was inaugurated. The hotel's architecture, in a sober and functional style, is distinguished by an adorned south façade, with corner chains and typical 18th-century windows.

The Hotel des Cadets was listed as historic monuments on 19 May 1965, thus recognizing its heritage importance. Today, it still houses the town hall and remains a symbol of the military and civil history of the island of Re. Its construction, originally planned for officer apartments, illustrates the evolution of public buildings under the Old Regime and the Revolution.

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