The Couvent des Jacobins was a monastery in Saint-Sever - Jacobin was the French term for the Dominican Order. Founded in 1280 thanks to the support of Eleanor of Castile, wife of Edward I of England, it was partly destroyed in 1569 by Huguenot troops under Gabriel, comte de Montgomery during the Wars of Religion.
It was partly rebuilt thanks to the support of père Antonin Cloche, a native of the town who became master-general of the order in 1686. Its cloister and south and west wings were restored in the Languedoc Romanesque style using pink brick and stone.
After the French Revolution it was re-used as a school, college, agricultural school, store, fire-station, municipal baths and finally a market. From the 1970s it has housed cultural aspects of the town, including the musée des Jacobins.
References:The stone church of Gamla Uppsala, built over the pagan temple, dates from the early 12th century. Due to fire and renovations, the present church is only a remnant of the original cathedral.
Before the arrival of Christianity in Sweden, Gamla Uppsala was the seat of Swedish kings and a ceremonial site known all over northern Europe. The settlement was home to royal palaces, a royal burial ground, and a great pagan temple. The Uppsala temple, which was described in detail by Adam of Bremen in the 1070s, housed wooden statues of the Norse gods Odin, Thor and Freyr. A golden chain hung across its gables and the inside was richly decorated with gold. The temple had priests, who sacrificed to the gods according to the needs of the people.
The first Christian cathedral was probably built in the 11th century, but finished in the 12th century. The stone building may have been preceded by a wooden church and probably by the large pagan temple.