Volutes of black smoke and flames several meters high rising from the roof of the cloister. In Condom, a violent fire broke out on the evening of June 12, around 9 p.m., in the cloister buildings of the old Saint-Pierre cathedral which notably housed the municipal media library. The disaster, brought under control a few hours later, caused significant material damage: the ceiling of the media library collapsed and around 400 m² of roof of the cloister was destroyed. Inside, the flames left a pile of rubble and affected a large part of the city’s historical archives. The heritage toll is heavy: around 90% of the 4,300 works in the media library’s historical collection were damaged. Some were soaked with water following the intervention of firefighters, others were partially burned.
Fire in the cloister of Condom on the evening of June 12, 2026.
© SDIS 32
“For us, it’s the same emotional shock as during the fire at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris”expressed the mayor of Condom, Jean-François Sabathier, to France 3. “We had very old archives, including the Bossuet collection belonging to our former bishop. All of this is gone forever. It’s extremely shocking”. The collection included, among other things, a precious missal from Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet (1627-1704), bishop of Condom before being bishop of Meaux. “We are in the process of listing all the books (touched), which date from the 16th to the 19th centuryhe added to AFP. We have managed to save the cadastral archives and we are trying to secure the cloister”.
The security project continues under the direction of the City, while the services of the DRAC (Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs) Occitanie have been dispatched to assess the extent of the losses and begin operations to safeguard the structures partly spared by the flames. The Minister of Culture Catherine Pgard did not fail to welcome the mobilization undertaken, ensuring that “the State will be present to support the municipality in the restoration of this exceptional heritage site”. The Condom cloister, built in the 16th century, shortly after the construction of the current Gothic cathedral, is one of the main vestiges of the ancient episcopal city.
The cloister and the church of Saint-Pierre de Condom.
