Valmont Abbey
The Notre-Dame-du-Pré de Valmont Abbey , also known as Sainte-Marie de Valmont , is a Benedictine abbey in the French commune of Valmont in the Seine-Maritime department . In 1951, 1965 and 1995 the abbey was added to the list of historical monuments.
history
The abbey was founded in 1169 by Nicolas d'Estouteville and was occupied by Benedictines from Hambye Abbey ; at no time did more than 25 monks live in this monastery at the same time. Valmont was destroyed and rebuilt several times, the monastery church was not completed until the 16th century.
The convent buildings were from 1676 to 1682 on the orders of Kommendatarabtes built Louis de La Fayette (1634-1729), who is also the 1680 Maurists tried to introduce -Reform but which was enforced until the 1754th In 1789 the abbey was dissolved and in 1791 the buildings were sold to private individuals.
In the 19th century, Eugène Delacroix painted the Ruines de l'abbaye de Valmont , the picture is now in the Louvre .
In 1994 the abbey was revitalized with Benedictine nuns from the Notre-Dame-du-Pré de Lisieux monastery . The new monastery church was consecrated in 2004.
architecture
Of the pure Renaissance style church, the main nave of which collapsed in 1730, only ruins of the choir built in 1520 and a chapel dedicated to the Mother of God in the choir of the church remain. The chapel is better known as the Six O'clock Chapel (Chapelle de Six-Heures) because it was used to read the first mass of the day. Here are the graves of the Lords of Estouteville and their wives from the 15th and 16th centuries. The stained glass windows from 1552 are attributed to Germain Pilon ; they are now in the Musée départemental des antiquités in Rouen.
literature
- Valmont. In: Le Patrimoine des communes de la Seine-Maritime. Éditions Flohic, Charenton-le-Pont 1997, ISBN 2-84234-017-5 .
- Frédérique Barbut: La Route des Abbayes en Normandie. Editions Ouest-France, ISBN 2-7373-2129-8 .
- Maylis de Kerangal: Seine-Maritime. Guides Gallimard, Paris 1995, ISBN 2-7424-0267-5 .