Today we are going to tell you about the start of the construction site in Morlaix (Montroulez) in the Finistère Breton region of France. It is a former convent transformed into a museum. Since 2017, the year the work began, the local authorities and Heritage have been working to rehabilitate the whole of the Morlaix Museum to make it a cultural centre of reference in the region. It is currently in the second phase, which consists of the restoration of the entire roof.
Brief history
Listed as a historical monument since 1983, the Jacobins church is one of the oldest monuments in the town. The church and its convent were built in 1238 after the visit to Morlaix of Saint Dominique de Guzman, founder of the Order of Preachers.
They remained Dominican until 1481, when they were taken over by the Jacobins of the Dutch congregation. Queen Anne stayed here in 1506 and Mary Stuart in 1548. The convent had a rich and renowned library. The States of Brittany met there three times, in 1557, 1674 and 1772.
After the Revolution, in 1792, the convent was suppressed, the furniture dispersed or destroyed under the Terror and the church became a public shop. Divided in two by a floor, the first floor was used as a fodder store and the ground floor as a stable.
The convent was transformed into a military barracks, then into social housing. It also housed the fire brigade until 1975.
The church was restored again in 1874, and the new glass windows in the chevet and on the western façade were created by the Nicolas de Morlaix workshop in 1876 and 1887. The municipal library, a drawing class and a conference room were installed on the upper level. It was classified as a Historic Monument in 1983.
In 1874, Edmond Puyo, mayor and uncle of Tristan Corbière, installed the municipal library on the first floor of the church and then, thanks to a bequest from Count Ange de Guernisac, the museum, which was opened to the public in 1887.
The Finistère archaeological society exhibited its collections there. The Count of Tromelin donated some thirty works of art by Fragonard and Delacroix. The State also donated works, including Un grain, by the painter Eugène Boudin.
In 1882, Edmond Puyo, the first curator, created a municipal school of drawing, modelling and sculpture. After his death in 1916, the museum did not find a curator until 1974. The covered market, demolished in 1971 on Place Allende, found a home on the ground floor of the church in 1972 and remained there until the late 1980s.
The building site
At that moment, the construction site is in its second phase of work on the museum. It will include: “the restoration of the carpentry and roofing of the west wing, as well as the removal of asbestos and the demolition of the floor of the church. This will be followed by archaeological excavations on the floor of the church.
In the next few months, we will keep you informed of the work progress.
TECHNICAL DATA SHEET:
Format: Brouillée (40 different models)
Distributor: Le Guern Matériaux
Slate layers: Tanguy Couverture and UDOC (Union des Ouvriers Couvreurs).
K08 natural slate contributes to the preservation of French heritage.
Source: OUEST FRANCE newspaper and Atelier Novembre Architecture.