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Founded: 1130Category: Religious sites in France
Historical period: Birth of Capetian dynasty (France)
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Abbey of Île-Chauvet is a former Benedictine monastery of the first half of the twelfth century that once took place in the Marches of Brittany and Poitou. It suffered from the Hundred Years War at the end of the fourteenth century, then a major fire in the late sixteenth before being rebuilt in the first half of the seventeenth century. It is sold as national property in 1791 before falling into disuse.
All that remains today is the remains of the original church, including a beautiful porch with four arches resting on small columns with carved capitals. It is also possible to admire the font, two buildings of the twelfth century, and a Gothic well installed in the center of the old cloister. Open to the public during the summer season, it reveals a very beautiful green setting where it is good to stroll on sunny days.
In August, the abbey hosts a very pleasant musical festival.
References: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).