Unlike her cathedrals which have consistently remained as places of worship, the monasteries of France have had a more chequered history. Some French abbeys date from as early as the 8th century, and many of them are conveniently close to rivers and canals, making them fantastic destinations to explore if you are enjoying a cruising vacation on the waterways.
The golden age of ecclesiastical building was between the 11th and 13th centuries when architectural wonders such as the Mont St Michel and Solignac Abbey were constructed. However, the Hundred Years’ War took its toll on the fabric of these religious buildings, the Black Death decimated monastic communities and the French Revolution saw the majority of them dissolved.
Once the revolutionary dust settled the fortunes of some abbeys revived, but at the start of the twentieth century all religious communities were banned in France and this array of different reasons meant that many of the mighty edifices fell into disrepair. Bad news for the Catholic church, but rather wonderful for modern visitors as the atmosphere of ruins such as Jumieges in Normandy is haunting; its roofless naves and broken arches make spectacular photographs.
There are significant examples up and down the country but some of the most beautiful are also within easy reach of popular waterways. Let’s explore a few…
St Mary Madeleine Benedictine Abbey in Vezelay
Our absolute favourite French abbey is Vezelay, a short taxi ride from Chatel Censoir on the Canal de Nivernais. You could make the journey by bike as it is only 10 miles from the canal but the climbs are extremely steep!
The breathtakingly beautiful abbey is situated high on an escarpment affording stunning views across Burgundy, and is surrounded by an ancient, fortified village which clings to the hillside and is now home to a range of irresistible boutiques and restaurants. Dedicated to Saint Mary Magdalene and said at one time to be the resting place of her remains, Vezelay is one of the key starting points for the pilgrimage to Saint James in Compostela and has attracted pilgrims and tourists for centuries.
Indeed, English King Richard the Lionheart met his French counterpart in the abbey to launch the Third Crusade, with the blessing of St Bernard of Clairvaux who preached nearby. When we visited, we were lucky enough to catch the end of a rehearsal for one of the concerts of sacred music that are part of the Rencontre de Vezelay festival that runs from June until September. The basilica was drenched in sunshine and the sound of Gregorian chants mingling with the rays of light sent shivers down our spines.
Fontenay – the oldest of the Great Cistercian Abbeys
Bernard of Clairvaux was certainly a mover and shaker when it came to medieval abbeys. Clairvaux, after which he is named, was just one of his establishments; he also founded Citeaux and Fontenay, the latter the oldest of all the great Cistercian houses and conveniently located close to Montbard, which is a stopping point on the Burgundy Canal.
This French abbey is a beauty, and fully deserves its UNESCO World Heritage Site status. Built in 1118, it is immaculately preserved in spite of having served as a paper mill for more than a hundred years following the French Revolution. In 1906 it was bought by the descendants of the Montgolfier family (of hot air ballooning fame), who have restored it to its former glory.
Fontenay sits in a wooded valley and architecturally it’s a gem, halfway between Romanesque and Gothic in architectural style, complete with cloisters, chapter houses and refectories so visually ravishing that they have featured in a number of motion pictures, including Cyrano De Bergerac starring Gerard Depardieu.
(If tracking down film locations floats your boat then Flavigny sur Ozerain, classified as one of the most beautiful villages in France, is around 15 miles away from the abbey and is where the film Chocolat was shot. It really is as pretty as a picture.)
Cluny Abbey – the largest church in Christendom
To find a good contrast to the green and pleasant Fontenay, it’s worth travelling on through the Cote d’Or to Cluny, located on a range of sun-baked hills on the right bank of the river Saône.
Founded in 904 and massively extended between 1088 and 1130, for hundreds of years Cluny was home to the largest church in Christendom, and at the peak of its power acted as the mother house to fourteen hundred other establishments. During the 1750s a range of monastic buildings in the classical style was added, but with the advent of the French Revolution just a few decades later in 1789 the abbey was sold to some builders merchants and stone from the church was quarried for construction elsewhere.
Cluny is at the heart of the Maconnais wine region in France and after visiting the abbey in the heat of the day, you might want to refresh yourself with a cool glass of Pouilly-Fuisse or Saint Veran, just two of examples of the excellent chardonnays for which the area is famous.
Find out more about Burgundy wines
The Abbey of St Pierre in Moissac
Another of our favourite French monasteries is to be found in Moissac, and we’re particularly fond of it because the town’s port is one of the nicest on the Canal Lateral a La Garonne.
Listed by UNESCO, the abbey of St Pierre dates back to the seventh century (and in the 11th and 12th centuries was ruled by Cluny, see above). And although the main body of the church was destroyed by those pesky revolutionaries and turned into a gunpowder factory and military billet, the cloisters – now over a thousand years old – survived, and contain one of the finest examples of a decorative frieze in the western world. In the pretty square opposite the abbey entrance is a heavenly restaurant called Le Fromage Rit which has a small but perfectly formed and affordable menu, offers irresistibly friendly service and it’s as much of a draw for us as the abbey itself!
Discover French abbeys on your waterways adventures
There are so many of these timeless religious buildings in France to track down if only you had the time…
- Mont St Michael cast adrift from the Normandy coast
- The Royal Abbey at Fontevraud which is the burial place of many of England’s Plantagenet kings, Saint Foy, Le Thoronet and Brantome, to name but a few
Seeking them out may take you a little off the beaten track, but isn’t that the point of vacations in France – not knowing what lies around the next bend in the river?
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