Aulne Abbey

Aulne was founded in the seventh century and became Cistercian in 1147, growing into one of the largest and wealthiest abbeys in the region with extensive estates along the Sambre. French revolutionary troops burned it in 1794 and it was never rebuilt, so what stands is a very large roofless ruin: the abbey church with its walls and window tracery to considerable height, the cloister, the chapter house, the eighteenth-century abbot's palace and the refectory, spread over a substantial site beside the river in a wooded valley. A brewery at the gate produces beers under the abbey name, and the heritage tramway from Thuin runs to the site on operating days, which is the pleasant way to arrive.

History

Landelinus, abbot of Crespin, founded Aulne as a Benedictine monastery on the Sambre in 656; before 974 secular clerics replaced the monks, adopting the Rule of St. Augustine in 1144, and in 1147, at the instance of Bishop Henry of Leyen of Liège, it passed to Cistercians from Clairvaux under its first Cistercian abbot, Franco de Morvaux. The monks built an irrigation system and six fish ponds, building of the abbey church began in 1214, and the lay brother Simon of Aulne, a mystic summoned to Rome to advise Pope Innocent III at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, died here in 1228. French revolutionary troops burned the abbey in 1794, soon after its rebuilding, destroying a library of 40,000 books and 5,000 manuscripts, and the last monk died in 1859 (Wikipedia, Aulne Abbey).

What's there

• A very large roofless church - walls and tracery standing high.
• The cloister and chapter house - the monastic ranges around the court.
• The abbot's palace - the eighteenth-century residential building.
• Arrival by heritage tram - the preserved line running from Thuin.

When to go

April to October; opening is reduced in winter. Two hours. The tram runs on set days in season. Autumn colour in the valley is good. Weekends bring visitors to the brewery.

Practical notes

It is a ruin with no roofs and little shelter. Some areas are fenced for stabilisation. Interpretation is in French. The brewery at the gate is a commercial operation using the abbey name rather than a monastic one.

Nearby

Thuin is upstream; Charleroi lies north-east.

Key facts