Convent of Saint-Dominique in Annecy
Saint-Nicolas / Conventus Annesiacensi / Jacobins d’Annecy / Saint-Maurice
(Annecy, Haute-Savoie)
The Dominican convent of Annecy was founded in 1422 at the initiative of Cardinal Jean de Brogny (1342–1426), a native of this region. In 1445 its church, still unfinished, was consecrated and dedicated to Saint-Nicolas. In 1533 a Provincial Chapter of the Order was held here.
Photo by B. Brassoud, on Wikimedia
From 1536 onwards, Annecy became the refuge of the episcopal chapter of the diocese of Geneva, which had left that city following the arrival of the Calvinists. In 1689 the canons occupied Saint-Dominique, and the convent was close to passing into their hands and being secularised. The Dominican community, however, remained until 1792, when the Revolution brought conventual life at this site to an end. It then suffered the loss of part of its patrimony, while the church was temporarily assigned to other uses. In 1803 worship was restored, and it now serves parochial functions. It is dedicated to Saint-Maurice, titular of the former parish church, which had disappeared.
The church of Saint-Dominique, now Saint-Maurice, originally had a single nave; shortly after its consecration, during the third quarter of the fifteenth century and the beginning of the sixteenth, lateral chapels were added to the first four bays of the nave. Owing to the communication between these chapels, this part of the building now gives the appearance of a three-aisled structure. During the twentieth-century restoration, several wall paintings were uncovered, notably the funerary mural of Philibert de Monthoux († 1458).
Funeral mural of Philibert de Monthoux († 1458)
Jean de Brogny, the founder
Bernard Picart (1727)
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Detail of Annessium, vulgo Annessy. No. 13 (1725)
Bibliothèque nationale de France
Church floor plan
Published in Annesci, No. 2
Illustration from Gallia Dominicana (1903)
Old postcard, private collection
Old postcard, private collection
- BESSON, Joseph-Antoine (1871). Mémoires pour l'histoire ecclesiastique des dioceses de Geneve, Tarantaise, Aoste et Maurienne. Moûtiers: Cane
- CROSET-MOUCHET, Joseph (1847). Jean Alarmet de Brogny, cardinal, évêque d'Ostie... Torí: Imp. Sociale
- MERCIER, Jean (1878). Souvenirs historiques d'Annecy jusqu'à la Restauration. Annezy: Abry
- OURSEL, Raymond (1965). Saint-Maurice d'Annecy. Congrès archéologique de France. 123 ss. Savoie. Société française d'archéologie
- PERRON, François (1954). L’église Saint-Dominique. Etude historique. Annesci, núm. 2
- QUARRÉ, Pierre (1965). La peinture funéraire de Philibert de Monthouz à l'église Saint-Maurice d'Annecy. Congrès archéologique de France. 123 ss. Savoie. Société française d'archéologie
- ROHAULT DE FLEURY, Georges (1903). Gallia Dominicana. Les couvents de St. Dominique au Moyen Âge. Vol. 1. París
Annecy lies on the shores of the lake of the same name, south of Geneva