Burgundy has many religious buildings dating back to the Medieval Christian revival. Not far from Vézelay, famous abbeys rise out of the Burgundian scenery. Among these are Cluny, Cîteaux, Clairvaux and Fontenay.

The abbey of Fontenay was founded in 1118 by Bernard de Clairvaux, in the same style as its parent-church of Cîteaux. During the 13th century, Fontenay saw the climax of its power and was made up of than 300 Cistercian monks. The order advocated austerity, poverty and prohibited secular studies. One can find the strictness of the monastic order in the architecture of the time: the bareness of the church, no decorum or ornamentation and general plainness.

Through the centuries, the abbey was abandoned, plundered and partially destroyed. Some parasitical constructions were built adjacent to the initial building and it was even transformed into a paper mill!

At the beginning of the 20th century, a family of bankers from Lyon, the Aynard family, bought the site and began the exact restoration of Fontenay. The parasitical constructions were destroyed, the damaged parts scrupulously restored and after many years of hard work, the abbey of Fontenay regained its Cistercian identity which led it to be listed as Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 1981 at the same time as Vézelay.


Fontenay abbey on the web : a chronology, an interactive visit, photographs and a bibliography.