Monasteries in France

Le Breuil-Benoît Abbey

Le Breuil-Benoît Abbey was founded in 1137 by Foulques, lord of Marcilly, and his son Guillaume. It was settled by monks from Vaux-de-Cernay Abbey, as a member of the congregation of Savigny Abbey. The abbey was soon able to settle a foundation of its own, that of La Trappe Abbey in 1140. In 1147 the Savigniac houses became part of the Cistercian movement, among them Breuil-Benoît, which was made a daughter ho ...
Founded: 1137 | Location: Marcilly-sur-Eure, France

La Trappe Abbey

La Trappe Abbey is the house of origin of Reformed Cistercians or Trappists, to whom it gave its name. It began as a small oratory chapel to the Virgin Mary, built in 1122 by Rotrou III, Count of Perche, as a memorial to his wife Matilda (n illegitimate daughter of Henry I, who drowned in the White Ship disaster of 1120). A few years later Rotrou built a monastery adjoining, which he offered to the monks of Le Breuil-Beno ...
Founded: 1122 | Location: Soligny-la-Trappe, France

Bonnefontaine Abbey

Bonnefontaine Abbey was founded in 1152 by the lord of Rumigny. It was abandoned in 1790 and left to decay. Today some ruins of original abbey remains as well as 17th century other buildings.
Founded: 1152 | Location: Blanchefosse-et-Bay, France

Sainte-Marie du Rivet Abbey

Abbey Sainte-Marie du Rivet may be founded in the late 8th century. There are some remains of the 9th century fortifications and the abbey church was built in the 13th century. The community is affiliated to the Cistercian order in 1189: at this date, the monastery already bears the name of Sainte-Marie. The abbey was ravaged during the French Wars of Religion and in 1702 there was only one monk left. In 1938 the abbey ...
Founded: 9th century AD | Location: Auros, France

Saint-Fromond Abbey

In 650 AD Fromond and some of his companions arrived to Brévands and established an abbey. Fromond became a bishop of Coutances he was died to the abbey in the year 690. In 871 Normans destroyed and looted the abbey. The new church was built in 1154 by Richard de Bohon, the bishop of Coutances. It was again destroyed by fire and the abbey church was rebuilt again with a massive Romanesque nave. It was demolished an ...
Founded: 1154 | Location: Saint-Fromond, France

Saint-Jean de la Castelle Abbey

Saint-Jean de la Castelle Abbey was established 1073 and moved to the current site around 1140. It was badly damaged in 1568 and 1570 during the French Wars of Religion, Huguenots slaughtered nuns and burned archives and library. The new abbey was built in 1728-1760, but after Revolution it was secularized and transformed as a farm.
Founded: 1140 | Location: Duhort-Bachen, France

Manoir de Brion

The Manoir de Brion, also known as the Château de Brion, is a former Benedictine priory of the abbey of Mont Saint-Michel. It was founded in 1137 by the abbot Bernard du Bec. Several kings and members of the royal court stayed at the Manoir de Brion while on pilgrimage to Mont Saint-Michel, including Charles VI in 1393, Louis XI in 1462 and Francis I of France in 1532. The explorer Jacques Cartier was also presented ...
Founded: 1137 | Location: Dragey-Ronthon, France

Fontguilhem Abbey

Fontguilhem abbey was founded in 1124 near a source called Fons Gallia. It was occupied by the monks of Gondom abbey and joined the Cistercian order in 1147 as daughter-house of Cadouin. In 1309, Pope Clement V granted his forbearance to all those who, after having confessed, took part in the construction of a new church and a new cloister. After the French Revolution, the monastery was sold as a national asset. The new ...
Founded: 1124 | Location: Masseilles, France

Marcheroux Abbey

Marcheroux Abbey is a former Premonstratensian monastery dedicated in honour of Saint Nicholas in Les Hauts-Talican. In 1122 Ulric, a companion of the founder of the Premonstratensian Order, Saint Norbert of Xanten, established in Jouy-la-Grange in the present Beaumont-les-Nonains a religious community called Saint-Nicolas-en-Thelle. In or around 1145 the landowner Ansculphe de Sénots made them a gift of land in Marchero ...
Founded: 1147 | Location: Les Hauts-Talican, France

Le Reclus Abbey

Le Reclus Abbey was a Cistercian monastery in the present Talus-Saint-Prix near Sézanne. It was founded by Bernard of Clairvaux in c. 1142 around the hermitage of Blessed Hugh the Hermit (Hugues le Reclus), from whom the abbey took its name. Hugh had at first retired from the world to an arid place in the parish of Saint-Prix known as Fons Balimi around 1128–1130, before being joined by a few companions. He was ment ...
Founded: c. 1142 | Location: Talus-Saint-Prix, France

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Historic Site of the week

Monte d'Accoddi

Monte d"Accoddi is a Neolithic archaeological site in northern Sardinia, located in the territory of Sassari. The site consists of a massive raised stone platform thought to have been an altar. It was constructed by the Ozieri culture or earlier, with the oldest parts dated to around 4,000–3,650 BC.

The site was discovered in 1954 in a field owned by the Segni family. No chambers or entrances to the mound have been found, leading to the presumption it was an altar, a temple or a step pyramid. It may have also served an observational function, as its square plan is coordinated with the cardinal points of the compass.

The initial Ozieri structure was abandoned or destroyed around 3000 BC, with traces of fire found in the archeological evidence. Around 2800 BC the remains of the original structure were completely covered with a layered mixture of earth and stone, and large blocks of limestone were then applied to establish a second platform, truncated by a step pyramid (36 m × 29 m, about 10 m in height), accessible by means of a second ramp, 42 m long, built over the older one. This second temple resembles contemporary Mesopotamian ziggurats, and is attributed to the Abealzu-Filigosa culture.

Archeological excavations from the chalcolithic Abealzu-Filigosa layers indicate the Monte d"Accoddi was used for animal sacrifice, with the remains of sheep, cattle, and swine recovered in near equal proportions. It is among the earliest known sacrificial sites in Western Europe.

The site appears to have been abandoned again around 1800 BC, at the onset of the Nuragic age.

The monument was partially reconstructed during the 1980s. It is open to the public and accessible by the old route of SS131 highway, near the hamlet of Ottava. It is 14,9 km from Sassari and 45 km from Alghero. There is no public transportation to the site. The opening times vary throughout the year.