On Place Ziem in Beaune, you will find the Saint Etienne Chapel, which was formerly the city's Carmelite convent and has been famous since the visit of Louis XIV...
The Ars Essentia Art Gallery is located at 9 Place Ziem, right in the heart of Beaune.
Today, it is a lovely little cobblestone square, lined with restaurants and cafes, as well as charming shops. But most notably, the Saint Etienne Chapel stands in the middle of the square.
This 17th-century chapel was part of the convent buildings of the Carmelite community of Beaune. Originally, since the 3rd century, there were a church and an enclosure serving as a cemetery on this site. Initially a priory, the site was restored by Viscount Eudes in the 11th century, establishing a Benedictine community. In the 13th century, the priory came under the command of the Canons of Beaune, and in 1620, Canon Léonard Bataille ceded it to the Carmelites, who resided there until the French Revolution in 1792. During this period, the buildings served as the headquarters of the Committee of Surveillance, a prison, and the gendarmerie.
Next to the chapel is Rue du Tribunal, which was created in 1851, crossing what was once the cloister of the Carmelite convent. This building housed the Beaune Chamber of Commerce for many years and was recently taken over by the Hotel de Beaune, which has installed new rooms there.
The chapel and the cloister underwent significant modifications in the 17th century, almost a complete reconstruction between 1639 and 1657.
The chapel, known as "de l'Enfant Jésus" at the time, hence the name of the street that leads to Place Ziem from the old post office, features a characteristic style of the time, between classical architecture and baroque style. It has a relatively austere lower part decorated with pilasters and bossage (stones carved to create a graphical contrast with flat stones).
On the second level, there are two niches that housed sculptures of saints until the Revolution, surrounding a central baroque-style window topped with a cartouche held by two angels. At the top level is another niche that likely contained a statue of the Virgin and Child, flanked by two "oeil-de-boeuf" openings.
Inside, various modifications over time have erased the original elevation of the chapel, which is structured with a central nave in classical style with straight pillars and two side naves that have retained their gothic ribbed vaults, likely from the 12th century and the last remnants of the Benedictine chapel from the Middle Ages. At the back are the remains of a carved altarpiece in the eastern wall.
In 1658, King Louis XIV came to pray in this chapel during his visit to Beaune. Indeed, a particular event linked him to this Carmelite convent: it is the story of Blessed Marguerite of the Blessed Sacrament, which I will tell you about in another post...
See you soon at the Ars Essentia Gallery, 9 Place Ziem, 21200 Beaune, Burgundy, France.
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