The abbey of Combelongue was founded in 1138 by Arnauld d'Austria, count of Pallars for one of his sons Antoine, who became the first abbot. It was on the way of the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela which made the abbey prosperous until the 14th century.
From 1446 the abbey began to decline. It was affected by the Black Death (1353-1355) and damaged during the Hundred Years War and the Wars of Religion. In 1568, Combelongue Abbey was devastated by Protestants from the Tarascon region. In 1789 the abbey was looted and burned. In 1791 it was secularized and later sold as national property .
Built entirely of pink brick, this Romanesque abbey is one of the few witnesses of the Mudejar influence in the region.
References:House of the Blackheads (Melngalvju nams) is a building situated in the old town of Riga. The original building was erected during the first third of the 14th century for the Brotherhood of Blackheads, a guild for unmarried German merchants in Riga. Major works were done in the years 1580 and 1886, adding most of the ornaments.
The structure was bombed to a ruin by the Germans June 28, 1941 and the remains demolished by the Soviets in 1948. The current reconstruction was erected from 1995 to 1999. Today the House of Blackheads serves as a museum and sometimes concert hall.