Saint-Rome de Dolan

The Pierre Monestier Centre

Emblem of the village

A majestic building stands in the center of the village: the Centre Pierre Monestier, which never ceases to amaze and fascinate. Pierre Monestier comes from a wealthy Saint-Rome de Dolan family. His father was Minister of Public Works in 1899, and took part in the vote to build the Gorges du Tarn road. A notorious anti-cleric and convinced republican, he disinherited his daughter, who had become a nun, in favor of his son Pierre. The latter did not follow his father’s wishes and, finding himself without an heir at the time of his death, returned his property to his sister, who donated the Monestier estate to the “Sœurs Servantes du Sacré-Cœur” community. In 1938, they built the imposing building, which served as a home for the elderly during and after the war. The nuns left in 1989, and the building was subsequently used as an International Welcome Center. Even today, children from the Pierre Monestier vacation center walk through its corridors.