Vaucelles monastery
| Vaucelles Cistercian Abbey | |
|---|---|
| location | France Region Hauts-de-France Nord department |
| Coordinates: | 50 ° 4 '41 " N , 3 ° 13' 27" E |
| Serial number according to Janauschek |
58 |
| founding year | 1132 |
| Year of dissolution / annulment |
1790 |
| Mother monastery | Clairvaux Monastery |
|
Daughter monasteries |
no |
The Vaucelles (Valcella) Monastery is a former Cistercian abbey in the commune of Les Rues-des-Vignes in the Nord department , Hauts-de-France region , in France . It is located around 13 km south of Cambrai on the right bank of the Scheldt .
history
The foundation of the monastery goes back to a meeting of the Lord of Crèvecoeur, Hugues d'Oisy, with Bernhard von Clairvaux in 1131. The foundation of the monastery, which was occupied by the Clairvaux Primary Abbey , took place in 1132. The construction of the monastery was completed around 1175. The monastery flourished in the 12th and 13th centuries and the number of monks and conversations was 430 around 1250, but under fifty at the beginning of the 14th century. The close border between France and the Holy Roman Empire brought various impairments with it, which led to the fact that the monastery was protected by a 7 km long wall built in the first half of the 13th century. Around 1770 a new abbot's palace was built under the abbot Pierre Ruffin, the library of which contained 40,000 books, manuscripts and incunabula, but which has been in ruins since 1917. During the French Revolution , the monastery was sold and partially demolished until a spinning mill moved into the monk's wing. In 1914 the monastery was confiscated by the German General Staff and the buildings went up in flames before the Anglo-Canadian offensive in 1917. The medieval gate house was destroyed. A restoration has been carried out since 1970.
Buildings and plant
The church, excavated in 1988 and consecrated in 1235, was 137 m long and 60 m wide in the transept, making it the largest church of the Cistercian order. The monk's wing with the chapter house, the largest of the Cistercian order, and the three-aisled monk's hall with six bays have been preserved from the convent buildings.
literature
- Benoît-Michel Tock (ed.): Les chartes de l'abbaye cistercienne de Vaucelles au XIIe siècle (= Atelier de Recherches sur les Textes Médiévaux. Vol. 12). Brepols Publishers, Turnhout 2010, ISBN 978-2-503-53156-4 .
- Bernard Peugniez: Routier cistercien. Abbayes et sites. France, Belgique, Luxembourg, Suisse. Nouvelle édition augmentée. Éditions Gaud, Moisenay 2001, ISBN 2-84080-044-6 , pp. 291-296.
- Bernard Peugniez: Vaucelles - la fureur de construire. In: Dossiers d'Archéologie. No. 234, 1998, ISSN 1141-7137 , pp. 136-137.
