Fontenay Abbey

Fontenay was founded in 1118 by Bernard of Clairvaux and survives as one of the most complete Cistercian complexes anywhere: church, cloister, chapter house, monks' dormitory, bakery and forge, set in a narrow valley with its own stream. The Cistercian rule stripped away towers, stained glass and carving, so the church is a plain box of warm stone lit by clear windows, and the effect is closer to a barn than a cathedral. That is the point. The forge, driven by the stream, was among the earliest metalworking halls in Europe. The abbey was sold off in the 1790s and worked as a paper mill for a century before being stripped back to its medieval form.

History

Bernard of Clairvaux, who felt even Cîteaux was not austere enough, founded Fontenay in a Burgundian valley in 1118, and the monks moved to the present site in 1130; the Bishop of Norwich, who fled here in 1139, helped pay for the church, which Pope Eugene III consecrated in 1147, and by 1200 the complex could house as many as 300 monks. King Louis exempted the abbey from all taxes in 1259 and ten years later it became a royal abbey; it was pillaged by the armies of Edward III of England in 1359 and damaged again in the Wars of Religion, the refectory was pulled down in 1745, and after the monks left during the Revolution it became a paper mill in 1791, run by the Montgolfier brothers. In 1906 the Lyon banker Édouard Aynard bought it and restored it by 1911, it is still owned by his family, and in 1981 it became a World Heritage Site (Wikipedia, Abbey of Fontenay).

Highlights

• The abbey church - no tower, no colour, clear glass and bare stone.
• The cloister - short paired columns and vaulted walks around a lawn.
• The monks' dormitory - one long room under an oak roof frame.
• The forge - a water-driven metalworking hall from the twelfth century.

When to go

Open through the year, with the gardens at their best from May to September; the valley holds mist early and the light in the cloister is strongest before midday. Weekdays are quiet. Winter opening is shorter and the unheated buildings are genuinely cold, so dress for standing still rather than walking.

Things to know

This is a place with almost nothing in it, which is the reason to come and the reason some people leave flat after forty minutes. It is privately owned and the entry price reflects that. There is no public transport to the gate, the site spreads over grass and gravel, and rain leaves the walk between buildings muddy.

Nearby

Montbard on the main line, the Chatillonnais woods and the wine villages south towards Dijon.

Key facts