Ancienne église abbatiale Saint-Jacques

English translation

The text above is the record as published by the Ministère de la Culture, in French. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Ministère de la Culture; it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

History

The abbey was founded in 1152 by Guillaume 1er de Montfort for regular canons of the order of Saint-Augustin. The first church was consecrated in 1156. Few vestiges remain of it: some sections of walls and traces of openings. The abbey was indeed rebuilt during the 14th century, a period of prosperity. The church was then enlarged, according to the plan it currently retains. From this period dates the west portal, with its fine columns topped by capitals ornate with foliage. The monastery underwent a second major campaign of works in the 17th century: a new cloister was then rebuilt to the north of the church; unfinished, it comprises only two buildings arranged at right angles. The monastic buildings of the 14th century, abandoned, rapidly disappeared. Sold as national property at the Revolution, the abbey was bought back in 1816 by a former Ursuline who founded an independent community there. New buildings were constructed, notably a chapel, and the church was divided and given a ceiling to be redistributed as rooms, dormitory, etc. Again abandoned after the expulsion of the sisters in 1910, the abbey was bought back by the Montfortians in 1922 and transformed into a seminary. The volume of the church was then restored, and new openings pierced. The last misadventure known to the building dates from 1976, when a fire destroyed the roof and the upper part of the walls of the church, as well as the roof and the interior of the monastic buildings of the 17th century.