Ancien couvent des Calvairiennes
MonumentHidden Treasure
Ancien couvent des Calvairiennes, located in Redon (Département 35), is a Renaissance château built in the 16th century. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Period
- Renaissance (16th century)
- Location
- Redon, Département 35, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 47.6524, -2.0781
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00090665
Founded in 1629, the former convent of the Calvairiennes de Redon houses an exceptional cloister and a Baroque chapel crowned by a portal dating from 1640, with two listed altarpieces featuring striking decorations.
History
Nestling in the heart of Redon, the Breton town at the confluence of the Vilaine and the Nantes-Brest canal, the former convent of the Calvairienne nuns boasts the sober, contemplative monastic architecture typical of 17th-century female religious orders. Four main buildings enclose a remarkably coherent inner cloister, giving the complex a spatial unity rarely seen in French convents that weathered the storms of the Revolution. What makes this site truly unique is the perfect link between the cloister and the conventual chapel. The cloister gallery communicates directly with the nuns' choir, recalling the original vocation of the site: a strict enclosure where collective prayer punctuated every hour of the day. The chapel, dated 1640 on the pediment of its portal, contains two altarpieces listed as Historic Monuments with a remarkable wealth of iconography, intact testimony to the Baroque devotion that animated these Benedictine nuns of Calvary. To visit this convent is to cross several centuries of history in just a few steps. The walls that once sheltered the fervour of the nuns then echoed with the footsteps of soldiers and the complaints of Spanish prisoners - a striking contrast that the architecture itself seems to bear in silence. The careful partial reconstruction carried out in the 19th century has not altered the soul of the place, and the neo-medieval gatehouse dating from 1893 marks an entrance worthy of a romance story. The setting is also inviting: Redon, a town of water and stone, has an ancient urban fabric around the convent where Saint-Sauveur Abbey, timber-framed houses and the quays of the Vilaine form a heritage ensemble that is rare in inland Brittany. The Calvairienne convent is a natural part of this walk between stones and canals.
Architecture
The former convent of the Calvary nuns has a classical quadrilateral layout organised around a central cloister, with covered galleries allowing the nuns to move between the various buildings in a sheltered environment. This layout, typical of medieval monastic architecture and taken up and rationalised in the modern era, finds here a sober and functional expression, characteristic of the female contemplative orders of the 17th century. The cloister backs directly onto the chapel to the north, an arrangement that allowed the nuns direct access to the choir via a connecting gallery, without ever leaving their enclosure. The conventual chapel, completed around 1640, is the jewel of the site. Its portal, crowned by a classical pediment engraved with the date of construction, opens onto an interior space dominated by two altarpieces listed as Historic Monuments. These sculpted and painted altarpieces, typical of Breton religious Baroque, combine twisted columns, baldachins, niches with statues and scrollwork in an iconographic programme centred on the Passion of Christ - a direct reference to the Calvary spirituality of the congregation. The materials used, probably local granite combined with plaster, give the whole a typically Breton robustness. The nineteenth century brought significant changes without altering the spirit of the place: the reconstruction of the south side of the cloister in 1875 respected the proportions and rhythm of the existing bays, while the neo-medieval gateway designed by architect Leray in 1893 introduced a lively façade on the street, with carved stone and meticulous joinery, prefiguring the historicist vocabulary dear to the diocesan architects of the Third Republic.
Related Figures
Antoinette d'Orléans — fondatrice de la Congrégation du Calvaire en 1617, dont les Calvairiennes de Redon sont issuesPère Joseph du Tremblay — cofondateur de la Congrégation du Calvaire et éminence grise du cardinal de RichelieuLes Dames prieures fondatrices — religieuses bénédictines à l'origine de l'établissement en 1629M. Leray — architecte redonnais, auteur du projet de porterie de 1893La Congrégation de la Retraite — communauté religieuse qui relança la vie conventuelle à partir de 1820
Tags
Nearby castles
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Ancien couvent des Calvairiennes located?
Ancien couvent des Calvairiennes is located in Redon, Département 35 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Ancien couvent des Calvairiennes built?
Ancien couvent des Calvairiennes dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Ancien couvent des Calvairiennes open to visitors?
Ancien couvent des Calvairiennes is currently closed to visitors.
