The Abbey of Saint-Jean Orbestier was founded in 1107. Nine centuries later it is still as imposing abbey church which has survived the abandonment of history, it is hard to imagine how the Benedictine monks have shaped the land and the local economy from this abbey.
In 1251 the first fire, whose origin remains unknown, ravaged the monastery. In 1340, the beginning of the Hundred Years War, British troops set fire to the new abbey. Two centuries later, the Wars of Religion caused the third destruction in 1569 and 1570. Protestants and Catholics fought over the land resulting in fire, looting and the confiscation of income and land.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, despite different modes of management and recovery efforts, the abbaye declined with the owners of the Abbey, the Diocese of Lucon declaring the permanent closure of the monastery in 1769. During the Revolution, the abbey was sold as national property. The church roof collapsed in 1912.
Today the church is restored.
References:Rosenborg Palace was built in the period 1606-34 as Christian IV’s summerhouse just outside the ramparts of Copenhagen. Christian IV was very fond of the palace and often stayed at the castle when he resided in Copenhagen, and it was here that he died in 1648. After his death, the palace passed to his son King Frederik III, who together with his queen, Sophie Amalie, carried out several types of modernisation.
The last king who used the place as a residence was Frederik IV, and around 1720, Rosenborg was abandoned in favor of Frederiksborg Palace.Through the 1700s, considerable art treasures were collected at Rosenborg Castle, among other things items from the estates of deceased royalty and from Christiansborg after the fire there in 1794.
Soon the idea of a museum arose, and that was realised in 1833, which is The Royal Danish Collection’s official year of establishment.