Jardin du Clos des Blancs Manteaux Francesca Dandolo

The Jardin du Clos des Blancs Manteaux takes its name from a thirteenth-century order of mendicant monks known as the Serfs of Saint Mary. These monks were famously distinguished by the long white cloaks they wore, which symbolized the virginity of the Virgin Mary. Although the order was dissolved by the end of the thirteenth century, the name stuck to the local street and eventually this garden, preserving the memory of those distinctive white garments long after the monks themselves departed. Continue