Ancien couvent des Carmélites

English translation

The text above is the record as published by the Ministère de la Culture, in French. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Ministère de la Culture; it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

History

The Carmelites settled in Narbonne in 1620. In 1637, the archbishop Claude de Rebé gave them the chapel known as the church of Saint-Sébastien. The history of the buildings that make up the convent is rather difficult to establish, owing to the topographical changes that occurred in the 19th century (piercing of the rue Garibaldi) and the imprecision of the texts. The whole consists of two blocks separated by the rue Garibaldi, formerly united with, to the north, the Ile Saint-François comprising the Cordeliers and, to the south, the Ile Saint-Mathurin comprising the Carmelites. The inventory of the Carmelites' goods drawn up in 1793 lists four houses situated to the south of the church, a house to the south and east of the garden, and a passage. None of these six lots corresponds to the buildings situated to the north of the church and registered in the name of the Carmelites on the 1780 plan and on earlier assessments. Yet these buildings are significant. They include the cloister and its outbuildings, plus a large house whose façade on the rue Garibaldi formerly opened onto the Carmel courtyard. The building of the greater part of the convent was carried out during the years preceding 1641. For the construction of the convent, the Carmelites had at their disposal, by permission of Louis XIII, materials from the demolition of the Moorish tower.