Paris Cloisters

Paris cloisters provide an opportunity for a close examination of French architecture. What a peaceful, quiet setting. Merriam Webster defines a cloister as an enclosed space within a monastery or convent . A covered passage bounding a courtyard usually with walled side and the other side an open arcade or colonnade would also define a cloister.

Cloître de Billettes

Photo courtesy of Chris Chant

Cloître de Billettes
(Billettes Cloister)

Arriving at the metro stop Hotel-de-Ville, find 24 rue des Archives. Here in the heart of the Marais you can escape to the silence of the 15th century. Enjoy the architectural wonder of Gothic arches. If you are lucky, the doors will be open. The cloisters are now used for art exhibits.  I plan to be a bit more vigilant about the schedule the exhibits . I would love to see the inside in person!

Cloître de Port Royal, Maternité Baudeloque
(Port-Royal Cloister, Baudeloque Maternity Hospital)

This cloister began as the abbey of Port-Royal in 1625. It closed in 1790 at the beginning of the Revolution. Now it is a maternity hospital. Take the RER to Port-Royal  The entrance is at 123 boulevard de Port Royal. Only the chapel, cloister and chapter hall have been preserved from the original abbey.

Women in Theology

Does the religious history of Paris interest you?  Then I suggest the Women in Theology site.  The W-i-T site enticed me to learn more about these abbeys!  The following quote gives a sense of the article.

“Port-Royal des Champs was a Cistercian convent. It was located to the southwest of Paris in the valley of Chevreuse. This was the convent where Simon Marion placed his granddaughter as coadjutrice to the abbess, by lying about her age and pulling on his connections with the royal family and the abbot of Cîteaux. His granddaughter, Jacqueline Arnauld (known by her religious name, and how I will refer to her for the remainder of this post, as Mère Angélique), became abbess in 1602 at only ten years old. She explains this at the very beginning of her account of her reform², saying:

‘In the name of the Very Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I am writing by obedience an account of that which has happened in this house, in the fifty-two years since I was brought there to be its abbess, on the 5 July 1602, aged only ten years [and] ten months, by a very great disorder, common in that time, when there was no longer any discipline practiced for promotions to benefices, nor almost any regularity in our order.’ “

Mère Angélique Arnauld by Philippe de Champaigne (1654)