Couvent des Ursulines de Mont-de-Marsan, convent located in Landes, in France
The Couvent des Ursulines de Mont-de-Marsan was a 17th-century religious building featuring simple but sturdy construction with a central courtyard surrounded by galleries. The complex contained classrooms, a chapel, and residential spaces for both the nuns and the students.
The convent was established in 1658 at the request of Bishop Gilles Boutault, with the first religious women arriving from another Ursuline house in Saint-Sever. During the French Revolution it was seized as national property and later served as military housing and a prisoner detention site.
The convent served as an educational center where girls from noble and wealthy families received instruction from Ursuline nuns. This religious community shaped the local spiritual and social fabric for generations before the revolutionary period changed the city's character.
The original convent buildings no longer stand, having been largely destroyed during the Napoleonic era and subdivided by the creation of new streets on the land. Visitors interested in this history can locate the former site by reference to the current street layout near what is now Rue du 8-Mai-1945.
After the site was destroyed during the Napoleonic period, the Ursulines returned to Mont-de-Marsan in 1915 and established themselves in a completely different neighborhood called Cabanac. This unexpected return demonstrates the resilience of the community even after losing their original location.
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