From Beaune we drive directly to Fontenay Abbey, a really famous abbey that is one of the first sites from France that was entered on the Unesco World Heritage Site. It is one of the oldest and best preserved Cistercian abbeys founded in 1118. The Cistercian order strictly observed the rule “to work is to pray” having to be poor and live a simple life. The buildings fro certain are not that simple and do not signal a lack of wealth, in fact to us they look like a rich noble’s mansion from outside.
Interestingly all Cistercian churches are similar to each other and have a similar floor plan. As the abbey has been plundered repeatedly and then used as a paper mill there is little remaining inside showing how it looked during its heyday. The dormitory is empty and we have to imagine how the monks were sleeping on benches, first, and then in individual rooms in the long hall.
The church itself is magnificent from an architectural standpoint. There are few embellishments left, we can see the church stripped down to the original Romanesque architecture which is quite simple and utilitarian.
The cloister is nicely restored and even now as we are walking we understand why it was considered a place of reflection, it looks really peaceful.
The gardens are nicely restored also and we enjoy our walk trough it and the nice views of the abbey.
What we really like as we pass by multiple buildings is that some of them are covered in ivy, that is a look that we really enjoy.
The monks also had a forge that included a hydraulic hammer powered by a water wheel outside. Quite advanced and progressive for the times, in fact it is considered one of the oldest metallurgical plants in Europe with two furnaces and several mills with hydraulic hammers..
We continue exploring the gardens and especially the pools and ponds which are full of fish. Quite a few of them and quite big too.
Returning at the car we spend some time just enjoying another ivy covered building which now looks bright red given fall colors. We take a lot of photos and explore it all around and then it is time to leave for the last stop for the day, Avallon, which is relatively close by.
