Nights At The Royal Abbey of Fontevraud

I have a definite list of sights to cover for my trip to the Loire Valley a few months back. With so many well-known châteaus to visit, I was surprised that my favorite sights on this trip were not grand châteaus like Chambord or Chenonceau but our two-night stay at the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud in the historic region of Anjou. Fontevraud may be an undiscovered destination, but it was hardly a popular stop for foreign visitors. After all, chateaus remain the main draw for tourism in the Loire Valley. And as far as French abbeys go, Mont Saint-Michel is more photogenic and nationally important than Fontevraud. That said, Fontebraud was an unexpected highlight of my trip.

The basilica of the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud.

I first heard of the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud not from Rick Steve’s Loire Valley guidebook but from a hotel listing on the Michelin Guides. Being a French publication, Michelin is ubiquitous in France and a handy tool in trip planning. Fontevraud l'Hôtel stood out as someplace special among all the hotels I came across. Not only is the hotel located on the grounds of the abbey, but it also has been beautifully renovated throughout. The minimalist decor creates a tasteful contrast with the raw Romanesque architecture. It was just the kind of boutique design that I love. Even more amazingly, the hotel was not more expensive than typical hotels in the area.

The cloister of the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud.

These little details are what made medieval architecture so charming.

Against Rick’s advice, we set up a home base in Fontevraud while exploring the western Loire. I did not know much about Fontevraud before the visit. Compared to the charming village of Chinon, Fontevraud seems remote and desolate. I was slightly apprehensive that we would feel trapped here. Ultimately, my curiosity won out. I remember reading about how staying in monasteries and convents became increasingly fashionable a few years ago. Since Fontevraud is no longer an active abbey, we got to enjoy the ambiance and architecture of an abbey without having to abide by religious rules. I would call that a win-win!

Fontevraud - A Medieval Feminist Icon?

The founding of Fontevraudi is attributed to Robert of Arbrissel, an 11th-century hermit. A gifted preacher, he attracted notoriety for his piety and strict adherence to asceticism. In 1096, he was summoned by Pope Urban II to the nearby city of Anger to witness his teaching. The pope was impressed and gave him a special license to become an itinerant preacher. As a roving evangelist speaking of Christian redemption, Robert spread not just the church’s doctrines but also anticlerical teaching. One of his most controversial practices was the practice of syneisaktism, an early Christian form of spiritual marriage where man and woman commit to a spiritual partnership based on vows of chastity.

Shortly after the pope’s approval, he cofounded La Roë Abbey and became its first abbot. Because of his charisma and vow of poverty, he attracted large numbers of converts from different socioeconomic backgrounds, such as former prostitutes. This caused much friction with the local community. He led over a thousand followers to establish a new settlement in Fons Ebral. The new Fontevraud Abbey received the papal blessing in 1106 and followed the rules of Benedictine orders. Fontevraud was a double monastery, with monks and nuns living in separate communities but sharing the same church.

Robert did not stay put to lead the community. Almost immediately after the abbey’s funding, he continued preaching throughout western France until he died in 1116. Interestingly, he designates a nun to be the ultimate leader of the order at Fontevraud. His preference for female leaders made him somewhat of a feminist icon of today and an enlightened radical of his time. Robert elevated the roles of religious women above men; he instructed all men joining the order to “serve the nuns until death in the bond of obedience, and that too with the reverence of true subjection.” He further decreed that all future abbess must come from the outside world, not raised in the religious community. This rule meant the long succession of abbesses came from prominent noble families, ensuring the abbey’s safety and prosperity.

Fontevraud - The Royal Necropolis

In the line of Fontevraud’s thirty abbesses, many had royal connections. The second abbess, Mailtda of Anjou was the young widow of William Adelin, the son of King Henry I of England. When her husband died unexpectedly while crossing the English Channel, the succession of the English throne was thrown into a crisis. Because William died when she was only nine years old, Matilda remained a virgin. She took a vow as a nun at Fontevraud Abbey at seventeen. Later, her sister-in-law married young Matilda’s brother Geoffrey, the Count of Anjou. The couple began the House of Plantagenet.

King Richard I of England and Queen Isabella of Angoulême.

As one of the major abbeys in France, Fontevraud received significant patronage from local rulers, especially the monarchy of the Plantagenet monarchs. Despite occupying the English thrones for over three hundred years, their power base was in present-day France. Many kings and queens spoke French rather than English. The most notable royals buried at Fontevraud were King Richard I of England and his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine. They are easily two of the most fascinating figures in Medieval Europe.

You may not know of King Richard I of England, but you may have heard of his nickname, Richard the Lionheart of Robin Hood’s fame. By all accounts, he was not particularly interested in the administration of the state or producing an heir. Historically, Richard is known as a fierce warrior who spent most of his reign fighting wars. He began commanding an army at sixteen years old. Richard then became a prominent figure in the Third Crusade. His rivalry between him and Sultan Saladin was a subject of historic fascination. The two eventually developed a mutual admiration for each other.

The details on the funerary effigy are remarkable.

When Richard died unexpectedly from an arrow from a boy, he was buried in Fontevraud. It was odd seeing a famous king of England buried in France at first. Unfortunately, the anti-monarchist revolutionaries ransacked the royal necropolis during the French Revolution. The remains of all the royals and past abesses were dug up, disposed of, and never recovered. But miraculously, the original life-size funerary effigies survived. At a time when two-dimensional paintings were very rudimentary, the effigy provided the best representation of how the person appeared in real life.

According to contemporary accounts, King Richard was known for his good looks. His life-size effigy offers glimpses of how he looked back in the day. The beautiful colors gave him a remarkable life-like quality that is hard to describe. It was as if he could wake up any moment from the sleep. Besides him was the funerary effigy of his sister-in-law, Queen Isabella of Angoulême. She allegedly tried to poison the King of France and then took refuge here at Fontevraud.

The funerary effigy of Eleanor of Aquitaine and her husband King Henry II or France.

Queen Isabella’s life, in contrast, was tamed compared to Eleanor of Aquitaine’s, whose funerary effigy is nearby. Eleanor was the most powerful woman in medieval Europe and was the only person in history who was both the Queen of France and Queen of England through two separate marriages. As the Dutchess of Aquitaine, she married Louis VII of France in 1137 while maintaining her family realm in Aquitaine. Their marriage deteriorated over the next decade due to the lack of a male heir and conflicts inside the court. At Eleanor's request, their marriage was annulled in 1152 on the grounds of consanguinity.

Within two months of the annulment, Elanor married Henry II, Duke of Normandy, the heir to the English throne. Although their marriage ceremony was low-key for their political status, her marriage to Henry was significantly more successful in procreation and political partnership at first. Upon Henry’s ascension to the throne, things turned sour due to the King’s extramarital affairs and his perceived meddling in the internal affairs of her homeland, Aquitaine. In a shocking term of events, Eleanor and her sons (young Henry, Richard the Lionheart, and Geoffrey) orchestrated a daring revolt to overthrow their father in a bid to seize the English throne. King Henry quailed the rebellion and imprisoned his wife in England for sixteen years.

The modern altar of the main abbey basilica.

When her husband passed away in 1189, Eleanor was freed by her son Richard the Lionheart. With Richard away fighting wars in distant lands, Eleanor became the de facto ruler of England and continued to administer the state affairs as the Queen of England. When new King Richard was captured in Austria, Eleanor was instrumental in raising the ransom to secure his release and mustering political support across the continent. She eventually survived Richard and remained a considerable political force under the reign of her son, King John. At 78, she retired to Fontevraud Abbey and took the veil the following year. She spent the remainder of her life in the abbey and passed away four years later.

Eleanor’s effigy is widely considered a masterpiece of medieval sculpture. According to contemporary accounts, her beauty and grace were widely praised. This is perhaps the best representative of her appearance. Eleanor was depicted reading the Bible to demonstrate her piety and interest in learning. Ironically, she was accompanied by her husband, who had her imprisoned for more than a decade. Despite her tumultuous marriages, she is celebrated for her fierce advocacy of her children and homeland of Aquitaine. She is undoubtedly a remarkable woman for visitors to learn about.

Life At Fontevraud Abbey

When I took a course in medieval architecture in college, I learned a few things about the planning of medieval monasteries. Fontevraud Abbey largely follows the layout of the Plan of Saint Gall, the famous 9th-century template of a Benedictine monastery. Back in the day, architectural plans were rare. This plan discovered the Abbey of Saint Gall in Switzerland, which was a rare example of architectural planning. It is, in fact, the only surviving major architectural drawing from the Early Middle Ages in current existence. The plan encompasses a self-sufficient monastic compound that followed the practices of Benedictine codes. Although the plan was never realized, its influences were widespread, and I could see traces of it at Fontevraud.

The core of Fontevraud’s plan follows Saint Gall’s plan to a T. The abbey complex is anchored by a basilica with an enclosed cloister built to the south. The monastic cloister’s four squares and four paths are symbolic references to the four rivers of Jerusalem. Surrounding the main cloister on three sides are two-storied buildings. Along the east side of dormitories and the warming room (calefactory). On the south stood the kitchen and refectory, and to the west was the cellar and storage room. As a student of architectural history, it was surreal walking through the complex and seeing the Plan of Saint Gall come to life. I was surprised that our professor at the time did not use Fontevraud Abbey as a reference project in class.

The chapter house of the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud.

The most impressive space is the Chapter House, the community's daily meeting room. Other than the basilica, Chapter House was the most important matters were discussed, including leadership election, reading of papal proclamations, and the admission to the order. The space we see today dates to the 16th century and is richly decorated with murals by Thomas Pot, featuring various biblical schemes. They were unique because successive abbesses were added onto these murals over the decades.

In its heyday, Fontevraud had as many as 3,000 nuns living in the monastery. The nuns followed the strictest form of Benedictine life. Pertinence, work, and silence were the way of life here. Littered around the abbey are digital kiosks explaining the lifestyle and daily schedule of the religious life at Fontevraud. They lived on a modest diet centered on cheese, fish, and bread and ate together in strict silence. I could hardly imagine spending an entire life in this strict ‘anti-social” lifestyle. The silence was only interrupted by the ringing of the bells.

The importance of bells was significant. The abbey had over twenty bells before the dissolution of the order in the 18th century. In the old dormitory was an exhibit called At Full Speed – Six New Bells for Fontevraud. It told the story of Fontevraud’s heritage bells and contemporary bell-making. Even though everything was in French, we could still appreciate the beauty of technical drawings, videos, and photography. Since 2019, the abbey has collaborated with the heritage artisans of Fonderie Cornille-Havard in Normandy to create one new bell each year.

The refectory of the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud.

The new bells incorporate contemporary design and are works of art themselves. Because of the structural deficiency of the basilica’s bell tower, the bells were set up across the landscape to allow visitors to get up close and personal. They set up a circular enclosure around each new bell. The design pays tribute to the tonal quality of each bell. My favorite is the “Richard” bell, which artist François Réau created to commemorate Richard the Lionheart. It depicts a scene where he was fatally wounded by a crossbow outside of Château de Châlus-Chabrol. Personally, it is the most beautiful bell I have ever seen. I wonder whether we could ring the bell using the clapper below.

Without question, the most interesting structure on the ground of the abbey is the Byzantine kitchen. The octagonal-shaped structure is highly distinctive and filled with prickling chimneys and fish-scale slating. Luckily, the structure has recently been restored to its full splendor. It is incredibly photogenic and endlessly fascinating. Its distinctive appearance has been a subject of great fascination among historians. Because the monastery was abandoned for a few centuries, many speculate it could be a baptistry or a funerary chapel. Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, a celebrated French architect and theorist, identified the structure as a smokehouse in 1865.

The kitchen interior is beautifully illuminated in the evening.

The architecture reminds me of the Fisherman's Bastion in Budapest, albeit at a much more grandiose scale. As odd as the kitchen may look on the outside, the building form makes a lot of sense from the inside. The kitchen was a massive smokehouse for salmon, which was abundant in Loire River back then. That would have explained the number of chimneys and the conical shapes. It may also explain why the architect used fish scales as an architectural motif. I could only imagine how much salmon the nuns were able to produce out of this giant smoker.

The Prison of Fontevraud

Soon after the end of the Plantagenet dynasty, Fontevraud Abbey lost royal patronage and went into a steep decline. The instability from the Hundred Years War in the 14th century further devastated the community. But there were still seventy nuns, forty lay sisters, and around twenty monks living in Fontevraud by the time of the French Revolution. Because of the historical alignment between the Catholic Church and the French monarchy, the revolutionary government announced that all church properties would be confiscated in 1792. However, the abbess refused to conform to the evacuation order at first.

In January, the revolutionary forces arrived to pillage the abbey. Many religious icons were destroyed, along with any symbol of the monarchy. The royal coats of arms were chipped away, and the remains of the royals and many former abbesses were dug up and dispersed. The monks and nuns were expelled but offered state pensions in exchange for expulsion. I could hardly imagine how difficult and emotionally distressing that experience must be. It just showed how quickly fortune could change.

After twelve years, the abandoned abbey found a new life as a prison for more than a thousand inmates on the order of Napolean. Substantial modification was made to the abbey to make it an effective prison. One example was the addition of an upper gallery at the refectory to allow better surveillance. Former vegetable gardens were replaced with additional barracks and working sheds. Many interior partitions were removed, and additional floors were added to maximize the square footage. In one of the exhibit galleries was an enormous wooden showing how the abbey evolved into a prison.

A model of Fontevraud’s during its life as a prison.

The exhibit highlights the daily life of the inmates and draws parallels to the daily life of nuns and monks. Like prisons of the modern era, works were integral to life in prison at Fontevraud. On a philosophical level, works were part of the rehabilitation. But it also provided a much-needed boost to the financial viability of the prison. The most notable products produced by the prisoners included mother-of-pearl buttons, nets, blankets, linen, and furniture. Oddly enough, I wanted to get on eBay and see if I could get vintage items from the Fontevraud prison.

The front door of the abbey speaks to its isolation from the surrounding community.

Because there were so many large windows and doorways in the abbey, it became difficult to administer the prison without resorting to harsh tactics. During its 150 years as a prison, Fontevraud was known to be one of the harshest prisons in France. The conditions deteriorated as the prison population reached two thousand, twice the intended capacity. It became a favored place to jail the French partisans during the Nazi occupation. It was also mad to think Fontevraud remained an active prison as late as 1962.

Fontevraud The Museum

Fontevraud’s change of fortune began in 1840 when the property was included in the first National Classification of Historic Monuments. Since the prison’s closure in 1963, the abbey complex has been meticulously restored until the turn of the millennium. Since nobody expected the return of a religious community to the abbey, the complex was given a new life as a historical monument, art museum, events, and hospitality space. It is probably the most versatile historical monument I have ever visited.

Besides the exhibits on the abbey’s history, the museum also covers wide-ranging topics such as archaeology, religious arts, architecture, and regional geology. The subjects of the exhibits may be wide-ranging (or all over the place), but the quality of the display was superb. Everything from the digital infographics, furniture, and signage. Because the abbey has also been home to a modern art museum hosting the collections of Martine and Léon Cligman since 2020, the entire abbey complex has contemporary vibes. Contemporary art makes surprise appearances in the sparse medieval interiors of the abbey from time to time.

As mentioned earlier, the overnight guests at Fontevraud l'Hôtel have the privilege of roaming freely on the abbey grounds after hours. When they say after hours, they mean 24 hours a day. After the official opening hour, the staff locked the front door and left for the day. All the exhibition galleries remain lighted and fully operational for the hotel guests. It was a surreal experience to wander through the empty halls of the abbey with nobody around; it was almost as if I was illegally trespassing at a museum. During my three-hour visit in the evening, I came across just two other visitors.

For obsessive sightseers like myself, the ability to enjoy the museum after hours was a godsend. I had to pinch myself to see whether I was dreaming. I can’t figure out whether the management thought keeping the galleries open 24 hours a day was easier than trying to lock up the abbey. Being alone with the effigy of King Richard and Eleanor in the depth of night felt very surreal; it was as if they could resurrect from death right there and then. I have always wanted a night at the museum, and this experience was so much more special than I could ever imagined. This was easily my favorite place in the Loire Valley.

The Lounge at Fontevraud l'Hôtel, the former refectory of Saint Lazare Priory.

Fontevraud l'Hôtel is located in the former adjoining complex called Saint Lazare Priory, which was initially dedicated to treating patients suffering from leprosy and the nuns who cared for them. As a quarantine facility, the priory is modeled as a miniature version of the royal abbey, with its own cloister, chapter house, and refectory. It may not be a luxury hotel, but it has plenty of special little touches that make it very special. Aside from tastefully restored historic interiors, the hotel also offers unlimited sparkling water fillers with refillable bottles for the guests. The map of the property and all the rules are printed out on a long scroll like a long-lost treasure map. It also makes a wonderful and unique souvenir for our visits.

Fontevraud Le Restaurant is a difficult reservation to get for those who did not plan ahead of time.

Making a reservation at Fontevraud Le Restaurant, a one-Michelin-star restaurant, might be worthwhile. At 109 € a head, their tasting menu was quite reasonable for me. The elegant setting alone was a reason enough to dine there. Since we could not get a reservation for lunch or dinner, we tried out their breakfast service. While the breakfast may not be extravagant, it demonstrated a respectable level of refinement that left a deep impression on me. This may be another reason I wanted to bring Brian here next time.

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