The Recollects Convent was built originally in 1684 at the Palace of Versailles, France by order of Louis XIV as a house for the religious order of Recollects - a reform branch of the Franciscans created in 16th century in France, Germany, and Holland.

During the period 1672-1673, as part of the design for his new Court of France, at what was then a royal hunting lodge at Versailles, Louis XIV decided to demolish Saint-Julien, the only church in Versailles at that time, and construct a convent for the Recollects, (an order so favored by the king he chose army chaplains from them)[1] in the new town to be situated on the opposite side of the Palace, in today’s Notre-Dame area.

[2] In 1682, the Court of Louis XIV was installed at Versailles, and Jules Hardouin-Mansart, chief architect to the king, constructed the Grand Commun, an annex designed to house court administrators on the old Saint-Julien Church site.

During the French Revolution, the order of the Recollects was abolished, and in 1793 the convent was transformed into a prison.

[3] Since the 19th century, it has been reserved for military use; in 1914, the 5th regiment of engineers left there for World War I.