Chapelle des Pénitents Blancs

English translation

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History

Chapel fitted out in the former Hôtel d'Allègre from the foundation of the Brotherhood of White Penitents of Le Puy in 1584. The building was remodelled several times in the 17th and 18th centuries: coffered ceiling painted from 1676 to 1679 by the painters François and Servant; joinery of the portal in 1679 by Claude Crouzet. In the 18th century, the wainscoting adorning the walls was carried out from 1713 to 1727 and decorated with paintings depicting the life of the Virgin, painted by Staron and Maurice-Gérard Buffet. The brothers' choir received its decoration around 1735. In 1780, the three large arcades opening onto the chapel were constructed. At the time of the Revolution, the Brotherhood was dissolved and the chapel became national property. It was returned to religious use and the Brotherhood reconstituted in 1811. The chapel, constituted by the former hotel, is a semi-trapezoidal building. On the East façade, a walled round-arch opening testifies to the original construction. The interior is divided into three parts by a longitudinal wall separating, at the first level, the chapel with coffered ceiling from the sacristy; at the second level the chapel of the brothers' choir which overlooks the nave through three round arcades; and by a transverse partition separating the chapel from the circulation corridor and staircase to the gallery. The decoration consists of the coffered ceiling of the chapel, the wainscoting adorned with paintings running around the walls, and the wainscoting of the gallery. The sacristy still preserves all its furnishings.