Monasteries in France

St. Taurin's Abbey Church

Founded in the 10th century by Richard sans Peur (Richard the Fearless), duke of Normandy, the St. Taurin"s abbey church was built on the suspicious spot of St. Taurin grave, the first bishop and evangelizer of Evreux. During the Hundred Years" War the abbey was burnt down. It was left to decay and the last monks were banished during the Revolution. The former Benedictine abbey church became a parish church. The ...
Founded: 10th century | Location: Évreux, France

Sarrance Monastery

Sarrance Monastery belonged to the Betharram Fathers who had replaced the Premonstratensians who left after the French Revolution. The Premonstratensian order founded their monastery in this place in 1345, the site of a Marian pilgrimage dating from the 12th century. They maintained religious services in this place, served the parish and welcomed pilgrims and travellers on the Roman road to Santiago de Compostela.
Founded: 1345 | Location: Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France

Ronceray Abbey

Situated on the northern side of the city, across the River Maine from the main old town area of the city, this delightful abbey is one of the most historic ecclesiastical buildings in the area and a fine example of Anjou architecture. The building has for many centuries served as a place of worship and religious observance. The structure has benefited from a series of overhauls in the last few hundred years, making it a ...
Founded: 1060-1119 | Location: Angers, France

Hambye Abbey Ruins

Located in the Normandy countryside, near from the Mont Saint-Michel, the Abbey of Notre Dame of Hambye was founded around 1145 by William Painel, Lord of Hambye, and Algare, bishop of Coutances. The monastery was established by a group of Benedictine monks from Tiron (Perche region in south-east of Basse-Normandie). Fueled by an ideal of rigor and austerity close to that of Cistercians, Benedictine monks built a sober an ...
Founded: c. 1145 | Location: Hambye, France

Paimpont Abbey

Paimpont Abbey was originally built by the King of Dumnonia in the 7th century, probably around 630 AD. It was destroyed by Vikings in the 9th century. The construction of current abbey building was started in 1199. The present buildings are works from the 11th, 13th, 15th and 17th century. Paimpont Abbey was closed down during the Great Revolution in 1790, but several buildings have survived. The Abbey is home to many fi ...
Founded: 1199 | Location: Ille-et-Vilaine, France

Abbey of St. Martin

The Abbey of St. Martin, established in 1124 in Laon in northern France, was one of the earliest foundations of the Premonstratensian Order. Along with Cuissy Abbey and Floreffe Abbey it counted as one of the primarii inter pares, or senior houses, of the order. The Premonstratensian community was founded by Barthélemy of Jur, bishop of Laon, in co-operation with Saint Norbert of Xanten, who settled it with twelve can ...
Founded: 1124 | Location: Laon, France

Abbey of St John

The Abbey of St. John was a Benedictine monastery in Laon, France, from 1128 to 1766, which replaced a nunnery founded in 641. The prefecture of the department of Aisne now occupies the site. In 641 Saint Sadalberga, sister of Saint Leudinus Bodo, disciple of Saint Eustace, second abbot of Luxeuil, and widow of Saint Blandinus, retired to Laon, where she founded a nunnery outside the city walls, south of the town. The de ...
Founded: 1128 | Location: Laon, France

Saint-Gabriel Priory

The Priory of Saint-Gabriel (Prieuré de Saint-Gabriel) was founded in 1058 to serve the ambitions of the Count of Creully and to stretch the prestige of Fécamp Abbey. The monastery was closed down in 1674 sold to State after Revolution. The priory comprises an entrance porch, a former refectory, a tower and a court room. Today it houses the horticulture and landscaped gardening school and boasts a rose garde ...
Founded: 1058 | Location: Saint-Gabriel-Brécy, France

Saint-Roman Cave Abbey

The Abbey of Saint-Roman is a cave monastery which includes the ruins of a castle (château de Saint-Roman-d"Aiguille), a chapel, cloisters, terrace, tombs and walls. It was constructed in the 9th, 10th, 12th and 15th centuries. The abbey is reached by a signposted path from Beaucaire which leads past a vast chamber and the monks’ cells to the chapel carved out of the rock which contains the tomb of St Ro ...
Founded: 9th century | Location: Beaucaire, France

Monastery of Chartreuse St. Sauveur

The monastery of Chartreuse St Sauveur, listed monument and unmissable site in the region, is a 15th century flamboyant Gothic masterpiece. During the visit you will discover the great cloister, one of the biggest in France, the small cloister, flamboyant Gothic masterpiece, and the chapel. Built on the edge of the town between 1451 and 1459 thanks to the legacy of a rich cloth merchant from Villefranche, Vezian Valette, ...
Founded: 1451 | Location: Villefranche-de-Rouergue, France

Redon Abbey

Redon Abbey (Abbaye Saint-Sauveur de Redon) is a former Benedictine abbey founded in 832 by Saint Conwoïon. Both Count Ricwin of Nantes and Raginarius (Rainer), Bishop of Vannes, refused at first to support the new foundation, and influenced the Emperor Louis the Pious against it. In 834 however the new monastery gained the patronage of Nominoe, princeps and later the first Duke of Brittany, as evidenced by his chart ...
Founded: 832 AD | Location: Redon, France

Abbey of Saint Bertin

The Abbey of St. Bertin was a Benedictine abbey, but today in ruins (the town's town-hall was built with stone from the abbey in 1834) and open to the public. It was dedicated to its second abbot, Saint Bertin. The monastery was founded on the banks of the Aa in the 7th century by the bishop of Thérouanne, who sent the monks Bertin, Momelin and Ebertram from Omer to proselytize among the pagans in the region. The Abbey ...
Founded: 7th century AD | Location: Saint-Omer, France

Ardenne Abbey

Ardenne is the third largest abbey in Caen region. It was founded in 1121 by a small Christian community. During the 1789 Revolution, the religious community was expelled from Ardenne Abbey, the building"s original purpose was modified and it was stripped of the furniture and works of art which had been collected. On 7 June 1944, the second day of Normandy Invasion, the Germans took Canadian soldiers prisoner and es ...
Founded: 1121 | Location: Saint-Germain-la-Blanche-Herbe, France

Monastir del Camp

Monastir del Camp ("The Monastery Camp") was, according a legend, founded by the request of Charlemagne after his victory over the Saracens in 785. Historically, the Priory of Monastir del Camp was founded in 1116 by the Augustine canons to the premises of Artal II , bishop of Elne. Thereafter, the priory became a Benedictine monastery, which will remain in operation until 1786.
Founded: 1116 | Location: Passa, France

Mondaye Abbey

In the mid-12th century, a priest named Turstin withdrew to a wooded Norman hill to live as a hermit, where he was quickly joined by a circle of followers. When Turstin died in 1200, the bishop of Bayeux established the community under the Rule of St. Augustine. Turstin's brother-in-law Raoul de Percy donated land for the abbey. Over the following years, the abbey continued to receive donation from nobility and farmers. A ...
Founded: 1200 | Location: Juaye-Mondaye, France

Mont Saint-Eloi Abbey Ruins

On a hill overlooking Arras stand the remains of two towers which bear testament not only to the once-powerful Mont-Saint-Eloi Abbey. According to legend the abbey was established in the 7th century by Saint Vindicianus, a disciple of Saint Eligius, and by the Middle Ages it had become a powerful religious centre; however the turbulent times of the Revolution saw its walls pillaged for their stone. All that survived were ...
Founded: 600-700 AD | Location: Mont-Saint-Éloi, France

Marcevol Priory

Marcevol Priory is situated at an altitude of 500 metres on a plateau overlooking the Tet Valley. The Priory was built in the 12th century by the religious order of Saint Sepulchre. In 1129 the Bishop of Elne donated them the small church, as well as some surrounding out-buildings. These were monks following the rules of Saint Augustine. The Order of Saint Sepulchre was founded in 1099 after the crusades and the conquest ...
Founded: 1129 | Location: Arboussols, France

Saint-Gildas de Rhuys Abbey

The Abbey of Saint-Gildas is dedicated to St. Gildas (c. 500–570) who was a British historian and cleric. He is one of the best-documented figures of the Christian church in the British Isles during this period. According a legend Gildas established the abbey, but there are no written evidences. Buildings were destroyed by Norman raids in the 10th century. The first known record dates from 1008 when the abbey was r ...
Founded: 11th century | Location: Saint-Gildas-de-Rhuys, France

Graville Abbey

The first mention of Graville Abbey was in the 9th century. Considered to be a masterpiece of the Romanesque art in Normandy, the abbey underwent several periods of construction since the 11th century. The church"s nave and transept date from the Romanesque period. Guillaume Malet de Graville, who was victorious during the Hastings battle alongside William the Conqueror, as well as his descendants, invested their for ...
Founded: 11th century | Location: Le Havre, France

Saint-Sever Abbey

Saint-Sever Abbey (abbaye de Saint-Sever) is a Benedictine monastery. It was founded at the end of the 10th century by William II Sánchez of Gascony.  According to the monastic chronicles, this was as the result of a vow he made after the battle of Taller, in Gascony, in which he defeated the Vikings (982). In 1060, after a fire, the abbey was reconstructed on the model of Cluny under the direction of the abbot Gregor ...
Founded: 10th century AD | Location: Saint-Sever, France

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Historic Site of the week

Spisskà Kapitula

Spišskà Kapitula, a unique fortified ecclesiastical ensemble, began as a small fortified settlement overlooking Spišské Podhradie in the 12th century. It was the site of the residence of the Provost of the castle, in the no longer extant St Martin"s monastery, and later became a capitulary. This was destroyed in by Tatars in 1241-1243, but the pilgrim"s chapel, in rotunda form and dedicated to the Virgin, survived until the 18th century and the monastery until the 15th century.

The complex of buildings there is based on the Cathedral of St Martin, where building began in 1285 as a three-aisled Romanesque basilica with a chancel at the west end and a double spire. It owes its present form to successive remodellings and additions in the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque styles.

The Provost's residence was completed in 1281 and further religious buildings were added. Frequent raids by marauding Bulgars and others led to its being fortified in the 14th century. The cathedral was rebuilt in the later 14th century. In 1776 it became the residence of the Bishop and four years later a seminary was established. In 1819 the first teacher training centre in Hungary was founded there.

The Bishop's Palace is largely Baroque, with some excellent interior decorations, like many of the religious buildings in the group. The oval ground plan of the centre of the town is due to its having been fortified in the 14th century. The various religious buildings had defensive functions in this early period. New monastery buildings were erected when the provost"s residence was rebuilt and the whole area fortified. The earlier central fortifications were removed in the 18th century.

Spišské Kapitula is part of the UNESCO World Heritage site Levoča, Spiš Castle and the associated cultural monuments.