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Origin and history

The prefecture hotel of the Lozère, located in Mende, was originally the palace of the bishops of the Gevaudan, probably built in the twelfth century. This building symbolized the temporal power of the bishops, notably after the acquisition of the Regal rights in 1161 by Aldebert III of the Tournel, then the treaty of pareage of 1307 with Philip the Bel, who made bishops of the Counts of Gevaudan. The palace, adjacent to Notre-Dame-et-Saint-Privat Cathedral, was connected to it by a 34-metre corridor decorated with portraits of the Count Bishops. It was embellished in the 17th century with painted box ceilings, but partially lost its residential function after the French Revolution.

In 1800, the palace became the prefecture of the new department of Lozère, welcoming the first prefect, Gabriel-Joseph de Jerphanion. Despite renovations in the 19th century, a devastating fire in 1887, from a shop on the Rue d'Aigues-Passes, destroyed the building almost entirely. The reconstruction, led by architect François Germer-Durand, profoundly altered the structure, notably removing the historic corridor linking the palace to the cathedral to break through Rue de la Rovere. An 18th-century gate, classified as a historical monument in 1946, and architectural elements such as carved lion heads still bear witness to its past.

The building experienced a second fire in 1967, damaging its roof again. In 1982, an agreement between the prefect and the president of the general council reorganized the premises: the prefecture retained the west wing, while the east wing was dedicated to the department's hotel. Today, the building combines administrative functions and historical heritage, marked by its successive transformations, from the Earl Bishops to the modern institutions.

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