Église des Carmes de Perpignan, Medieval Gothic church in historic Perpignan, France.
The église des Carmes de Perpignan is a ruined Gothic convent church on rue Jean Vielledent, roofless since a 1944 fire. Its surviving north wall of rough stone and brick holds narrow pointed-arch recesses, while tall pointed arches of alternating red brick and pale stone spring from rectangular piers. Only three of the nave's eight bays remain covered.
The Carmelites settled at Perpignan around 1269–1270 outside the town walls; the great church was built in 1325 and its single nave covered in 1343. From 1710 the army occupied part of the convent, and in 1776 the monks accepted the demolition of the cloister, kitchen, refectories and dormitories for the royal arsenal. In 1944 a fire set by the Germans destroyed the roof and the carved and painted wooden tribune; in 1961 the vaulted choir's crowning collapsed.
The north portal, in front of the atrium, is carved from pink and white polychrome marble with fantastic monsters; the cloister to the south, built 1333–1342, used grey and white marble and was the work of the Carmelite sculptor Arnau de Peirestortes. The relics of Saint Honorat were moved from the convent crypt to the church of Sant Jaume in 1791.
The church is located on rue Jean Vielledent in the historic districts of Perpignan, making it accessible to visitors interested in medieval religious architecture. Its position in the city center allows for easy exploration combined with nearby historical sites.
The 15th-century crypt of Sant Honorat, rediscovered in 2004–2005 after the army left, had been filled in and forgotten since 1791, when the saint's relics were moved to the church of Sant Jaume. Its six-section radial vault originally rose above the nave floor as a podium for the main altar.
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