Come and discover the fabulous history of the building in which the museum is located, built 400 years ago! In the company of a mediator, go through the rooms to uncover unusual details and listen to funny stories, in this place where lived a certain Louise de France. The visit is followed by a workshop to create an imaginary museum.
The Carmel of Saint-Denis: from the convent to the museum
400 years ago, on September 27, 1625, eight sisters of the Reformed Carmel settled in Saint-Denis. The city will be home to many convents, of which there are only few traces today. The carmel is a unique testimony of the convent architecture of the territory. He lived several lives: from the residence of the nuns, it became a military barracks after the French Revolution, while the chapel was briefly transformed into a temple of Reason and then into a parish church. At the end of the 19th century, the nuns bought the building, except for the chapel, now a court. It is gradually abandoned, before being acquired by the municipality. From 1981, the former convent partly restored becomes the museum of art and history, deconsecrated and open to all.
Architecture always inspires tranquility and spirituality, in resonance with its primary destiny, and in contrast to the bustling city environment. The sentences recall that a community of women, voluntarily cloistered, lived in this place. The collection of objects and works, arranged in the old cells, present this story. What do we know about these Carmelites? Of their daily lives, their commitment, their aspirations? Of their relationship with the Church and masculine orders? The figure of the moniale, which is imagined outside the world and time, is one that intrigues. It is the subject of various, sometimes subversive, artistic reappropriations, from cinema to theatre, including burlesque performance.
The celebration of this matrimony allows us to question the myth and the reality of a very present heritage, which echoes our contemporary concerns: sobriety, self-sacrifice, the relationship with otherness, or even the place of women in history and society.
Two exhibitions are to be discovered: In the silence of the Carmel. Photographs by Hélène Mastrandréas and Dévoiler. A life in miniature (September 16, 2025 - February 22, 2026). To complete the visit journey in the former cells, the Carmelites of Montmartre agreed to indulge through sensitive cartels on their daily life, their faith, and their relationship with social subjects. This presentation is entitled The ways. x of Carmel.
The program comes to trace, question and shift the story of the 400 years of the Carmel of Saint-Denis. Guided tours, workshops, conferences and shows are to be discovered throughout this celebration.
