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Origin and history

The convent of the Madeleine de Traisnel was founded in 1142 in Traisnel (Champagne), founded by the priest Gondri under the protection of Anseau I, local lord. In 1629, the nuns fled the Wars of Religion for Melun, then settled in Paris in 1652, acquiring land in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. Queen Anne of Austria laid the first stone of the chapel in 1664 and financed its construction up to 9,000 pounds. The convent, spread over 42 hectares, became a place of retreat for figures such as Marc-René d'Argenson, who built new buildings there and laid his heart there.

In the 18th century, the convent housed royal personalities, including Adélaïde d'Orléans and his mother Françoise-Marie de Bourbon, buried in the chapel. In 1724, the nuns launched a lavender toiletry trade. Confiscated as a national property in 1790, the site was sold in 1801 and transformed into a spinning plant by Richard and Lenoir. During the Commune of 1871, he hosted the Revolutionary Club. The remaining buildings, including the nave of the chapel and a 17th century staircase, were listed as historical monuments in 1990.

The convent, surrounded by other religious institutions such as the Benedictines of the Good Secours or the Daughters of Saint Marguerite, extended to the current streets Jules-Vallès and Léon-Frot. His literary history is marked by sulphurous references, such as in Le Chevalier d'Harmental d'Alexandre Dumas, where d'Argenson spends his evenings, or Le Parfum de Patrick Süskind, which places the childhood of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille in its surroundings. The L-shaped gardens and cellars, where the girls of France still rest, add to his mystery.

Architecturally, the buildings, rebuilt in the 18th century by Jean-Sylvain Cartaud, combine religious heritage and industrial adaptations. The chapel, cut in two planes, and a staircase with wooden balusters of the seventeenth century bear witness to its past. Today, only three buildings on the first courtyard, with their cellars, remain of this historic complex, classified for its facades, roofs and interior elements like the wrought iron ramp.

The reputation of the convent, between piety and supposed scandals, reflects the contrasts of the Old Regime. Young novices and the wealth of the community inspire rumours of debauchery, while benefactors such as d-Argenson or the princesses of Orleans make it a place of devotion and patronage. Its post-revolutionary decline and industrial conversion illustrate the urban and social upheavals of Paris in the 19th century.

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