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| 2175 Cistercian Abbey of Fontenay (1) |
The Abbey of Fontenay, located in the commune of Marmagne, near Montbard, was founded by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux in 1118, and built in the Romanesque style. It is one of the oldest and most complete Cistercian abbeys in Europe, and with its church, cloister, refectory, sleeping quarters, bakery and ironworks, is an excellent illustration of the ideal of self-sufficiency as practised by the earliest communities of Cistercian monks.
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| 2176 Cistercian Abbey of Fontenay (2) |
The monks moved to Fontenay Abbey in 1130, and in 1200 it was able to serve 300 monks. In 1259, the King Louis IX exempted it from taxes, and ten years later it became a royal abbey. In 1359, it was pillaged by the armies of King Edward III of England. It suffered further damage during the Wars of Religion, and.with the beginning of the French Revolution in 1789 the monks successively left the abbey. In 1906 Edouard Aynard bought the abbey and commenced its restoration which was complete by 1911.
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