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Origin and history

The Abbey of Saint-Pierre-les-Nonnais, founded in the 7th century in Lyon, welcomes from its origins a community of Benedictine nuns. Although its exact foundation remains uncertain, medieval sources evoke an endowment by Aldebert, the converted Roman governor, but this account is now considered a forgery of the Middle Ages. Bishop Leidrada completely rebuilt the monastery in the 9th century under Charlemagne, making one of the richest religious establishments in Lyon. The abbey, independent of the archdiocese, is run by abbesses from the nobility, elected for life by the chapter.

In the 17th century, the abbey, then in disciplinary decline, was deeply transformed under the impulse of Anne de Chaulnes (abbess from 1649 to 1672). It entrusts architect François Royers de la Valfrenière with the reconstruction of the palace in a monumental Baroque style, inspired by Italian models. The works, begun in 1659, were completed under his successor, Antoinette de Chaulnes, who decorated the interior with painter Thomas Blanchet and sculptor Nicolas Bidault. The refectory, a baroque masterpiece decorated with paintings by Louis Cretey, and the grand staircase of honor remain today.

The French Revolution ended nearly a thousand years of monastic life: the nuns were expelled in 1792, and the palace, spared destruction, successively houses a barracks, the commercial exchange (1801), then the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon (created in 1801 and installed in the abbey in 1803). The church of Saint Peter, disused in 1907, is integrated into the museum. Ranked a historical monument in 1938 for its facades and roofs, the palace preserves traces of its religious past, such as the 12th century Romanesque porch.

The abbey was organized around two churches: the convent church of St Peter, rebuilt in the 12th century and enlarged in the 18th century, and the parish church of St Saturn, destroyed in 1793. The cloister, rebuilt in the 19th century by René Dardel, now houses sculptures and a fountain decorated with an ancient sarcophagus. The archives of the Abbey, preserved at the departmental archives of the Rhone, bear witness to its economic power and its influence, with extensive properties and abbesses from the greatest noble families.

Among the notable abbesses, Lucie (7th century), sister of Bishop Ennemond, or Françoise de Beauvilliers (17th century), niece of Madame de Clermont, illustrate the aristocratic influence on the abbey. The last abbess, Marguerite-Madeleine de Monteynard, left the convent in 1790. The palace, symbol of Lyon's religious and artistic fascist, today embodies both an exceptional architectural heritage and a major cultural place.

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