Port-Royal Abbey was an abbey in Paris that was a stronghold of Jansenism. It was first built in 1626 to relieve pressure of numbers on the mother house at Port-Royal-des-Champs.
Famous people who stayed here include Marie de Rohan, intriguer during the Fronde; Jeanne Baptiste d'Albert de Luynes, future mistress of a duke of Savoy; Marie Angélique de Fontanges, mistress of Louis XIV, died here giving birth to his child who also died.
It was closed down in 1790, at the beginning of the French Revolution and from 1793 used as a prison under the name Prison de Port-libre or Prison de la Bourbe. Chrétien Guillaume de Lamoignon de Malesherbes (lawyer for Louis XVI during his trial) and Madame de Tourzel, former governess of the "children of France", were held here.
Today its main cloister (illustration) forms part of the modern Hôpital Cochin.