While admiring the Cordeliers Convent located in the heart of the old Châteauroux, difficult to imagine the incredible past which is still reflected in the shimmering of its stained glass windows. If it was one of the first foundations of the Franciscan order in France in the XIIIe century – and above all one of the most important – it was also alternately a school, a lapidary museum, a gymnasium, a prison or a stable.
His history
Tradition reports that at the beginning of the XNUMXthe century, the lord of Châteauroux, William Ier from Chauvigny returning from a crusade, brought from Italy a relative of Saint Francis of Assisi: Filiponti brother. Known above all under the patronymic of Brother Bonencounter, the latter is said to have founded in 1214, in Châteauroux, a convent of mendicant religious called Minor Brothers or cordiers (because of the homespun dress they wear, tied at the waist with a cord).
This convent is located on the old route of the city ramparts, at the junction between the upper town, built up, and the lower town, made up of green spaces on the banks of theIndre. It offers a characteristic example of the Franciscan architecture of the XIIIe century: the church, bare and austere, with a very beautiful trefoil portal, is in line with mendicant constructions. A vast preaching hall with a superb barrel vault with exposed framework, it forms with the convent buildings (monks' dormitory, refectory and kitchen, library and scriptorium) a set of the XNUMXthe unique century in France.
The establishment, whose existence is attested from the middle of the century, prospered very quickly and welcomed up to fifty monks at its peak in the XNUMXth century.e century. In the XVIe century, the Protestants set fire to the buildings and the Revolution completes the ruin of the convent. Magnificently restored at the end of the 1970s, the convent has now been converted into an exhibition space. For more than twenty years, it has welcomed the biggest names in modern and contemporary art in its fifty-meter long nave, the monks' dormitory and the chapter house.
The Cordeliers garden
Site classified by the association of parks and gardens of the Centre-Val de Loire region, the Cordeliers garden extends over an area of 8 m². Arranged in terraces, the garden presents regular flower beds Here française. It also includes more natural spaces allowing visitors to cross different landscape environments as they stroll along the terraces. Located not far from there, old restored washhouses give the site its own identity while recalling the richness of its history.
The washhouse circuit
Savor all the tranquility and intimacy of an enchanted walk along the Indre and the old washhouses on the bathing path. An invitation for a moment out of time between city and garden.
Is the Cordeliers convent open to the public?
Since the Cordeliers convent is now a place dedicated to contemporary art, it is only open during exhibitions which are scheduled there several times a year.
- Information on 02 54 34 10 74.
Are the convent gardens permanently accessible?
It is possible to enjoy the Cordeliers gardens and the Chemin des Lavoirs all year round, day and night.
Also discover
From the Ebbes Valley to the Cordeliers convent, from the Raoul castle to the Bertrand museum, find all the places not to be missed during your stay in Châteauroux.
