Noviciat des jésuites, Former Jesuit novitiate in Avignon, France

The Jesuit Novitiate is a former school building in Avignon centered around a Greek cross chapel crowned with a dome. Three vaulted galleries surround a large inner courtyard, creating a structured and self-contained layout.

The site was founded in 1589 and served for nearly two centuries as a training facility for Jesuit novices. The Jesuits were expelled in 1768, after which the building was repurposed.

The courtyard gallery is wrongly called a cloister: Jesuits took no monastic vows, so neither novices nor fathers were enclosed. The chapel dome, rising above the roofs, has its openings grouped in pairs on the diagonals rather than on the axes, a signature of architect Étienne Martellange. The building now houses a hotel and the Institut supérieur des techniques du spectacle, and hosts performances during the Festival d'Avignon.

The building is located on Rue du Portail Boquier and some spaces are open for exhibitions and events. Visitors should check in advance about access, as the site functions primarily as an educational and performance venue.

The chapel dome's openings are not set on the main axes but grouped in pairs on the diagonals, a signature of architect Étienne Martellange. In the squinches, tempera paintings of the four Evangelists by Jesuit painter Jean-Denis Attiret date from 1737 and are fading. The dome rises from the surrounding roofs on a drum.