Interior view

It was at the Sainte-Marie de la Visitation, known as the Visitandine church, that Mansart’s handling of volume displayed the virtuosity that would became his greatest strength. The circular plan was skillfully set in a square, with a rounded, apsidal chapel, whose contour cuts into the curved arc of the interior space, creating a play of “warped” volumes. Tall pilasters support an ornate, circular cornice over which a dome rises. The chapel is the sole remaining vestige of the Visitandine convent (demolished c. 1800), and has been a Protestant church since 1802.