Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Petit Séminaire de Consolation found its origins in 1432 with the construction of an oratory dedicated to Notre-Dame de Consolation, attracting hermits in this isolated valley. In the 17th century, Ferdinand-François-Just de Rye, Marquis de Varambon, planned to found a monastery there for the order of the Minimes, a vow taken over by his wife Marie-Henriette de Cusance after his death in 1657. Despite delays due to inheritance disputes and waiting for the authorization of the king of Spain (then sovereign of the Franche-Comté), the works began in 1671 with the stones of the castle of Châtelneuf-en-Vennes, destroyed during the war of Ten Years. Four Minimes settled in 1670, and the monastery, completed in 1673, formed a square of 40 meters around a central cloister, with a neo-Roman church completed in 1682.

At the time of the Revolution, the monastery, almost disused, was sold as a national good and transformed into a forage depot. Repurchased by the Church in 1827, he became a small seminary in 1833, forming missionaries until its final closure in 1978. The chapel, classified as a historical monument in 1913, houses a Baroque mausoleum in polychrome marble dedicated to the Marquis de Rye, as well as stalls, lambris and an eighteenth-century pulpit to preach. The site, managed since 1978 by the Val de Consolation Foundation, now combines religious heritage and cultural events, while its park, with waterfalls and botanical garden, attracts walkers.

The architecture of the monastery, sober and functional, reflects the rigour of the order of Minimes: a floor of 18 cells for the monks, a ground floor dedicated to common spaces, and an adjacent square garden. In the 19th century, buildings were transformed to accommodate more than 100 students, with the addition of a second floor. The chapel, with a single nave rhythmic by doric pilasters, preserves two lateral chapels, one of which houses the marquis mausoleum. Nearby, the Bass House once housed the lay community. The park, dug by the Lançot and its tributaries, offers a spectacular natural setting, with waterfalls, caves (like that of Notre-Dame de Lourdes, built in 1888) and hiking trails.

The classified furniture includes, in addition to the mausoleum (black, white and red marbles adorned with allegorical sculptures), stalls and panellings of the 18th-century carved wooden choir, as well as two paintings depicting a holy bishop and Saint Joseph. A Latin inscription on the mausoleum recalls the fragility of human grandeur. Today, the site, owned by an association, perpetuates its spiritual and cultural vocation, while valuing its exceptional architectural and landscape heritage.

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