Convent and Academy of the Visitation, Religious educational complex in Mobile, Alabama.
The Convent and Academy is a group of connected buildings arranged around a central courtyard, designed in the French Renaissance style with refined architectural details. The complex contains classrooms, living quarters for the sisters, and the Sacred Heart Chapel as its focal point.
The foundation began in 1832 when Bishop Michael Portier arrived with five sisters from Georgetown to establish the institution. After a fire destroyed the original structures in 1854, the complex was rebuilt with a new design by architect James Henry Hutchisson.
The Sisters of the Visitation taught generations of girls here and shaped educational opportunities for women in the region. The place still shows how religious communities took responsibility for schooling when few other options existed for female students.
The grounds operate as a retreat center that welcomes groups and organizations throughout the year for various gatherings. The restoration of the chapel completed in 1998 makes the spiritual spaces accessible to visitors interested in the site's religious heritage.
A small cemetery sits within the property where sisters and members of the community were buried over generations. This private burial ground is one of the few that survives in Mobile from that era and shows how the religious community maintained its own sacred space.
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