Thanks to its proximity to the Lyon city hall, the abbey was not sold or destroyed during the French Revolution.
In 1792, the Municipal Council designated the building as a place to conserve medals, bronzes and other artistic monuments.
On 14 Fructidor in the year IX (1801), the Chaptal decree to establish painting collections in fifteen French cities enabled the founding of the Lyon Museum of Fine Art.
Joseph Bail | Au Jardin, 1880 | Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon