Ancienne abbaye des Dames

English translation

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History

Used until 1924 as a military barracks (Taillebourg barracks). A monastic community marked by a first group of churches is said to have existed. The first mention of the Benedictine abbey goes back to its consecration, on 2 November 1047. The church underwent significant transformations in the Romanesque period, to which the master mason Béranger contributed. The Wars of Religion also led to significant remodelling. Currently, the abbey church comprises an apse, a transept and a nave without aisles. The primitive nave had three vessels. The apse and choir are later than the crossing and the arms of the transept. On the crossing of the transept remodelled in the 12th century, was placed a dome on squinch pierced by an oculus. The bell tower comprises an upper storey pierced with twelve openings, and surmounted by a rotunda and a stone cone. The tripartite division of the ground floor of the western façade, covered with luxuriant ornamentation, is repeated on the upper storey which has lost a large part of its sculpted decoration. Of the monastic buildings, there remains only a large block of buildings following the south arm and dating from the 14th century. The old refectory is a room vaulted with ribs dated 1664.