Provence romane: l’abbaye Notre-Dame de Sénanque
One of the three Cistercian sisters of Provence (with Le Thoronet, which we have already visited, and Silvacane, which we will visit soon), the abbey of Sénanque was founded in 1148 by a group of monks from the abbey of Mazan in Auvergne.
Located not far from the very fashionable, modern-day village of Gordes in the Lubéron mountain, the abbey is still active today.
Although one would think that mainstream Benedictines are more relaxed than their Cistercian offshoot brothers, it is the Cistercians of Sénanque that gave me, by far, the warmest welcome. They agreed completely with my taking photos wherever I wanted (subject of course to my not disturbing their regular life), contrary to the stark refusal I suffered in Ganagobie. It is true that Sénanque counts among its community a talented amateur photographer, Brother Pierre-Yves, and maybe this played a role, too.
This other general view shows the layout of the abbey. The cloister is just North of the church, an unusual location as the northern side is normally that of the dead, the cemetery, but in this narrow valley, there was no place to build to the South of the church. Let’s not forget that a cloister does not stand by itself but needs to also be surrounded by other “functional” buildings: chapter room, refectory and dormitory, at the very least —not to mention scriptorium, monks’s room, kitchens and storage rooms, etc. You can see those buildings around the cloister.
To the left are the other buildings, some of which are not technically within the enclosure: hostelry and workshops, mostly.
The building to the right in the background is modern. It is a meeting and conference center that was built by truck industry magnate Paul Berliet, the wealthy patron who helped rebuild the monastery in the 1950s, after it had been deserted for half a century, and before it was populated again by monks from the abbey of Lérins, thus becoming a priory of that abbey.
Provence romane: l’abbaye Notre-Dame de Sénanque
One of the three Cistercian sisters of Provence (with Le Thoronet, which we have already visited, and Silvacane, which we will visit soon), the abbey of Sénanque was founded in 1148 by a group of monks from the abbey of Mazan in Auvergne.
Located not far from the very fashionable, modern-day village of Gordes in the Lubéron mountain, the abbey is still active today.
Although one would think that mainstream Benedictines are more relaxed than their Cistercian offshoot brothers, it is the Cistercians of Sénanque that gave me, by far, the warmest welcome. They agreed completely with my taking photos wherever I wanted (subject of course to my not disturbing their regular life), contrary to the stark refusal I suffered in Ganagobie. It is true that Sénanque counts among its community a talented amateur photographer, Brother Pierre-Yves, and maybe this played a role, too.
This other general view shows the layout of the abbey. The cloister is just North of the church, an unusual location as the northern side is normally that of the dead, the cemetery, but in this narrow valley, there was no place to build to the South of the church. Let’s not forget that a cloister does not stand by itself but needs to also be surrounded by other “functional” buildings: chapter room, refectory and dormitory, at the very least —not to mention scriptorium, monks’s room, kitchens and storage rooms, etc. You can see those buildings around the cloister.
To the left are the other buildings, some of which are not technically within the enclosure: hostelry and workshops, mostly.
The building to the right in the background is modern. It is a meeting and conference center that was built by truck industry magnate Paul Berliet, the wealthy patron who helped rebuild the monastery in the 1950s, after it had been deserted for half a century, and before it was populated again by monks from the abbey of Lérins, thus becoming a priory of that abbey.