The house Cavaignac, located at 15 rue du Docteur-Massénat in Brive-la-Gaillarde (Corrèze, Nouvelle-Aquitaine), finds its origins in a convent of Clarisses founded in 1243 by the Viscounts of Turenne. Originally located outside the city walls, the convent was destroyed in 1587 during the Wars of Religion. The nuns then take refuge inside the ramparts, occupying existing buildings which they gradually modify. The present building, built after the Wars of Religion under Louis XIII, served as a home for the superior mother.
The convent, ruined by the bankruptcy of Law in 1720, was merged in 1760 with the Benedictines of Bonnesaigne. At the Revolution, the nuns were expelled in 1791, and the site became a national good. Part of the premises was converted into a women's prison, while the superior's house was bought in 1796 by Jean-Baptiste Cavaignac, giving him his current name. The creation of Rue Sainte-Claire (future rue Doctor-Massénat) in 1796 led to the destruction of the cloister and chapel.
In the 19th century, the building successively houses the small seminary (1829-1850), then became the Ernest Rupin museum in 1892, dedicated to local history. In 1897, the widening of the street destroyed the old parlor, changing the distribution of openings. The portal of the Franciscan chapel (11th century), saved from the destruction of their convent in 1930, was mounted against the gable of the garden. Ranked a historic monument in 1927, the building now houses municipal archives after the museum was transferred in 1989.
Architecturally, the Cavaignac house is distinguished by its two square buildings, connected by a round staircase tower with a conical roof. The facades of local sandstone (brasier) have typical curved frontal windows of the 17th century brivist. The ground floor, pierced by three arcades, gave access to the cloister. The transformations of the 19th and 20th centuries (destruction of the 17th century stairway in 1983, modification of the bays) altered some original elements, but the Franciscan portal and the 13th century filling bays remained as evidence of the medieval phases of the site.
The site illustrates the successive reuse of a religious heritage: convent, revolutionary prison, school, museum and archives. Its history reflects the political upheavals (Revolution, national property laws), economics (law failure) and urban (street pierces) that marked Brive-la-Gaillarde from the Middle Ages to the contemporary era.
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