Couvent des Minimes de Grenoble

The Couvent des Minimes de Grenoble (English: Minim Monastery of Grenoble) is a former monastery constructed about 1644 by the Minim friars, a semi-contemplative mendicant order, which is located on the Rue du Vieux Temple in Grenoble, France.

Occupied by several institutions since the expulsion of the friars during the French Revolution, it is currently used as a student dormitory and the former chapel serves as a concert hall, particularly as the base of the orchestral group, Les Musiciens du Louvre.

The Minim friars had founded their first monastery in the region, the , in 1494, in the village of Saint-Martin-d'Hères on the outskirts of Grenoble. It became established as the motherhouse of the Order for France. Over time, many prominent figures of the region came to be interred in its chapel, people such as the Chevalier de Bayard, a noted military commander of the early 16th century.

During the 17th century, in the course of a major religious revival which swept France, the friars decided that they wanted to relocate to within the city walls of Grenoble, where they could be more accessible to the faithful. In 1642 they acquired some property in the city and wished to build on that. In November of the following year, they obtained the reluctant permission of the Bishop of Grenoble, , for the project. The bishop, however, demanded assurances from the Order that this new foundation would not interfere with the operation of the Monastery of the Plains. An inheritance which the monastery received from a local widow in 1644 permitted the work to commence. Scarron, however, withdrew his permission a year later, this despite the fact that construction was already underway. It took the issuance of letters patent by King Louis XIV in January 1646 for the construction to go forward to completion.

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