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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The convent of the Ursulines of Dinan, founded in the early seventeenth century, initially settled in 1618 in a house close to the chapel Saint-Nicolas, before its first stone was laid in 1620 by the bishop of Saint-Malo, Guillaume LeGuverneur. The building, organized in quadrilateral with three wings and a cloister, includes a chapel built in 1638 by the master of work Poussin, also responsible for the Dominican convent of Dinan. The site also houses a boarding school for poor girls and gardens extending to the ramparts.

In 1792, the 34 nuns were expelled during the Revolution, and the convent, sold as a national property in 1798, became a sailing canvas factory in 1802. The workshops occupy the wings of the convent, while the chapel serves as offices. The factory, equipped with a steam machine, closed in 1862. The buildings were then fragmented and partially destroyed, notably during the drilling of Rue Saint-Charles in 1862, dividing the former cloister.

In the 20th century, the remaining buildings (chapel, south wing and part of the west wing) were preserved. The north wing was replaced by the residence of Saint Charles in the 1960s, while the remains of the convent were rehabilitated in 1990 as the residence of the Ursulines. The chapel, isolated from the rest by the eastern wall of the cloister, remains the only element classified as a historical monument since 1987.

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