Explore the historic highlights of Sintra
Sintra, Portugal
1842-1854
Sintra, Portugal
14th century
Sintra, Portugal
1904
Sintra, Portugal
8th century
Sintra, Portugal
18th century
Sintra, Portugal
1858
Sintra, Portugal
1783-1787
Sintra, Portugal
13th century
Sintra, Portugal
1560
Saint-Georges de Boscherville Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey. It was founded in about 1113 by Guillaume de Tancarville on the site of an earlier establishment of secular canons and settled by monks from the Abbey of Saint-Evroul. The abbey church made of Caumont stone was erected from 1113 to 1140. The Norman builders aimed to have very well-lit naves and they did this by means of tall, large windows, initially made possible by a wooden ceiling, which prevented uplift, although this was replaced by a Gothic vault in the 13th century. The chapter room was built after the abbey church and dates from the last quarter of the 12th century.
The arrival of the Maurist monks in 1659, after the disasters of the Wars of Religion, helped to get the abbey back on a firmer spiritual, architectural and economic footing. They erected a large monastic building one wing of which fitted tightly around the chapter house (which was otherwise left as it was).