Square des Recollets

The Square des Recollets takes its name from the convent of the Order of the Recollets, a Franciscan group that established a monastery here in the early seventeenth century. Marie de Medici laid the foundation stone for their church in sixteen fourteen, at a time when this location sat outside the city walls of Paris. The monks cultivated the land for self-sufficiency, creating a lush, private garden that remained their refuge for over a hundred and fifty years.