A boarding school for young girls, run by nuns called Dames Noires, was set up in 1776 within the walls of the Poor Clares monastery, suppressed in 1750, which was located in the current location of the De Ranse estate. The buildings of this former monastery, which fell into disuse, were saved by the Lévignacais. “The Levignacian community protested against the disappearance of an establishment which, by its income, its past prestige, had in its eyes an obvious character of public utility. It asked, in order not to lose the benefit, the transformation of the convent in an education center for young girls in the region “indicates J. Adher in an issue of the review of the Pyrenees of 1907. This boarding house for young girls aged 5 to 16, often from the nobility was also to accommodate a free class for education of the people. The program of studies was inspired by that of Saint-Cyr, dear to Madame de Maintenon, simple and practical, and included reading and writing, religion, history and geography, and among others, training in household, music, drawing. and dancing. “A doctor and a surgeon were attached to the establishment,” says Adher. In Lévignac, this boarding school, called Petit Saint-Cyr, operated for more than 20 years, then the Revolution came.
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