Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The monastery Our Lady of the East finds its origins in a local legend: a shepherd would have discovered a brick decorated with a face of the Virgin under a bush, probably a statue-menhir in red sandstone. The peasants set up an oratory on this site, initially under the protection of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem. The primitive sanctuary was destroyed during the Wars of Religion in the 16th century.

In the 17th century, the Capuchins, as part of the Counter-Reform, rebuilt the church and monastery between 1615 and 1675. The building, of sober but elegant style (33 m long, wooden ceiling imitating ferns), incorporates a baroque altarpiece classified in 1964, inspired by Spanish art. The south façade features a sundial added to the 19th century, while a side chapel is dedicated to Notre-Dame de la Visitation.

The French Revolution marked a turning point: the monastery, sold as a national good in 1789, lost its Franciscan community after two centuries of presence. In 1825, Benedictines founded a boarding school for young girls, supported by the Archbishop of Toulouse. Closed in the early 20th century, the site was temporarily abandoned before being reinvested in 1925 by a new monastic community. Today, it still welcomes pilgrims.

The church, classified as a Historic Monument in 1978, is distinguished by its painted structure in fish edges and its walls adorned with blue trompe-l'oeil. The site, a communal property, perpetuates a spiritual tradition linked to the miraculous discovery of the Virgin, while illustrating the religious and political upheavals of the region since the Middle Ages.

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