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 Jan Hus Memorial stands at one end of Old Town Square. The huge monument depicts victorious Hussite warriors and Protestants who were forced into exile 200 years after Hus, and a young mother who symbolises national rebirth. The monument was so large that the sculptor designed and built his own villa and studio where the work could be carried out. It was unveiled in 1915 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Jan Hus' martyrdom. The memorial was designed by Ladislav Šaloun and paid for solely by public donations.
Born in 1369, Hus became an influential religious thinker, philosopher, and reformer in Prague. He was a key predecessor to the Protestant movement of the sixteenth century. In his works he criticized religious moral decay of the Catholic Church. Accordingly, the Czech patriot Hus believed that mass should be given in the vernacular, or local language, rather than in Latin. He was inspired by the teachings of John Wycliffe.