Bellelay Abbey

The Premonstratensian abbey at Bellelay was founded in the twelfth century, and its church, rebuilt in the 1710s, is a substantial baroque building standing almost alone in Jura pasture - the setting is what surprises, since there is no town around it. The monks made a cheese that was recorded from the twelfth century and became known as Tete de Moine, monk's head, a name that stuck after the Revolution; it is not sliced but shaved into rosettes with a girolle, a rotating blade invented in 1982, which changes how it tastes by increasing the surface exposed to air. The abbey was secularised in 1797; its buildings now house a psychiatric clinic, and the church is used for concerts and exhibitions.

Highlights

• A baroque church in open pasture - no town, just Jura grazing around it.
• The origin of Tete de Moine - the cheese recorded here from the 1100s.
• The girolle - the 1982 blade that shaves the cheese into rosettes.
• A secularised abbey - a clinic in the buildings, concerts and exhibitions in the church.

When to go

April to October. Two hours.

What to expect

The church is often locked outside event dates - check before travelling. Public transport is infrequent. There is very little else at Bellelay beyond the abbey and the cheese house. Winter access can be snowy.

Nearby

Saignelegier and the Franches-Montagnes are west; Tavannes is south.

Key facts