Orval Abbey

Orval was founded in 1132 and destroyed in 1793, and rather than rebuild on the ruins the community that refounded it in 1926 built a new abbey alongside and left the old one standing, so the visit takes in both: the roofless medieval church with its rose window, the cloister, the chapter house and the fountain, and the twentieth-century church and monastery in a stripped Romanesque style by Henry Vaes. The community brews Orval, one of the small number of beers entitled to the Trappist designation, a single beer of an unusual character fermented with Brettanomyces and dry-hopped, and makes a cheese. The brewery itself is open only a few days a year, but the beer and cheese are served at the inn outside the gate.

History

The site was used in Merovingian times and had a chapel by the 10th century; around 1070 Benedictine monks from Calabria came at the invitation of the counts of Chiny and Luxembourg, then left, and canons regular completed the church, consecrated on 30 September 1124. In 1132 Cistercians from Trois-Fontaines in Champagne arrived and the two groups became one community under the first abbot, Constantin; fire destroyed the monastery around 1252 and rebuilding took about a century, Wenceslaus I was buried here in 1383, and the monk Gilles d'Orval continued the history of the bishops of Liège to 1251. The Harenne family, owners of the ruins from 1887, gave the land to the Cistercians in 1926, the new monastery was built until 1948 under Marie-Albert van der Cruyssen, regaining abbey rank in 1936, and brewing was revived in 1931 to pay for it (Wikipedia, Orval Abbey).

What's there

• The roofless medieval church - ruins with the rose window standing.
• The 1930s abbey - a stripped Romanesque rebuild alongside the old one.
• The Matilda fountain - the spring at the heart of the abbey's founding story.
• Trappist beer and cheese - made here and served at the gate.

When to go

April to October; the site is open year round with shorter winter hours. Two to three hours. The brewery opens to the public only a handful of days a year and tickets go by ballot. Weekends are busy.

Practical notes

The brewery is essentially closed to visitors and the few open days are heavily oversubscribed. The monastery itself is enclosed and not open. Interpretation is in French. The inn outside is busy and prices are high.

Nearby

Torgny is south; Florenville and the Semois lie north.

Key facts