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Origin and history

The Dominican convent of Isle, founded in the 17th century in Pont-l'Évêque, has its origin in the initiative of two sisters, Marguerite and Marie Pillon de Berthouville. In 1644, these nuns of the Royal Monastery of the Emmured of Rouen obtained permission from the bishop of Lisieux to establish a strict Dominican house in Pont-l'Evêque, a city without a female monastery. Arrived in 1645, they settled first in a modest house on Rue Saint-Mélaine, before acquiring adjoining plots to extend the convent over five hectares, attracting many postulants built by their life of silence and extreme poverty.

The Dominicans applied an austere rule of life, marked by abstinence, fasting and self-inflicted physical suffering. Their community flourished for a century and a half, until the French Revolution. In 1792 the nuns were expelled, their property confiscated, and part of the buildings demolished in the 19th century to build a prison (1823), a court (1828) and a gendarmerie (1843). The site was then used for various purposes: justice of peace, school, café, antique shop, or musical and military rehearsal room, without consistent restoration.

In the 20th century, the building, heavily degraded, nearly abandoned before being completely renovated in 2000 to become the Dominican Cultural Space. Ranked a historic monument since 1927 for its facade, it now houses exhibitions and an art gallery. Its woodwork architecture and history reflect the religious, political and social upheavals of Normandy, from the Ancien Régime to the present day.

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