[1][2] In 1583, Queen Catherine de Médicis bought and converted a hermitage on the hill of Chaillot, renamed "Catherinemont"; the architect Étienne Dupérac was commissioned to design a "U-shaped" villa with terraced gardens and a courtyard in the shape of a racecourse.

On July 1, 1651, the property was purchased by the Visitandines at the initiative of Henriette-Marie de France, daughter of Henri IV and widow of Charles I of England, who established a community there.

After fleeing rebellious England, Henriette-Marie[5] commissioned the architect François Mansart to build a chapel here and invited some of her exiled court members.

[6] Marie Mancini,[7][8] Mazarin's niece, retreated for a time to the Convent of the Visitandines, while Mademoiselle de La Vallière, fleeing the court, took refuge there twice before entering Carmel.

The convent was closed in 1792, and its disused premises were partly destroyed on August 31, 1794, by an explosion at the Grenelle powder plant on the opposite bank of the Seine.