The Misericordia complex is one of the jewels still intact of Montpellier's medical and artistic heritage.
It houses the last remaining apothecary in Montpellier. Since the departure of the Sisters of Charity of Saint-Vincent de Paul in 2001, this place of remembrance, classified as a historical monument, is managed by the City of Montpellier.
A bit of History...
In 1622, in the tradition of charitable works, the lay congregation of the Ladies of Mercy founded the eponymous work. Associated with the Daughters of Charity, they settled in a house bequeathed in 1715 by Anne de Conty d'Argencourt.
After the Revolution, the work is associated with the Bureau of Charity.
The visit...
The pharmacy, made up of two rooms, the 18th and 19th century dispensary, contains an extremely rare collection of monster pots, cannon pots, jugs and goats' cheeses, testimony to several centuries of Montpellier faience manufacture.
The chapel, built in 1830 in the former workshops of the Mint, is decorated with paintings illustrating the history of Montpellier's charity, including two large paintings in the choir: "La Charité de saint-Vincent" by Paul d'Eugène Devéria (1808-1893) and "Les Dames de la Miséricorde" by Auguste Glaize (1807-1893).
Other paintings signed by Reynaud Levieux (1613-1699) make the chapel a small conservatory of regional painting from the 17th to the 19th centuries.
Pharmacy and Chapel of Mercy
1, rue de la Monnaie
34000 Montpellier
Tel: 04 67 67 93 32
https://www.montpellier.fr/2888-pharmacie-et-chapelle-de-la-misericorde.html
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