The Cistercian abbey of Léoncel
[Having returned late last night from a two-week trip to England and a family visit in Normandy, I resume my uploads today. I know that over the coming three or four months, I will be quite busy as I need to shoot a significant number of monuments and sites to illustrate a book on the first 25 years of activity of the Fondation du Patrimoine in the Auvergne–Rhône-Alpes region. I will nevertheless attempt to keep uploading new material to Flickr every day, but please don’t be mad at me if I miss a day here and there...!]
The church of Sainte-Marie de Léoncel is all that is left of the Cistercian abbey that was founded in this valley of northern Drôme (southeastern France) in 1137. The church was quickly built, as it was consecrated in 1188. However, some remodeling and alterations took place until around 1230. Most of the church is pure Romanesque, but as you will see, the roofing of the nave features a budding form of rib vaulting which announces the age of the Gothic.
The abbey was ravaged during the Hundred Years War; only the church was left standing. The cloister and other abbey buildings were never rebuilt. Monastic life endured (albeit down to a substantially degraded degree) until the French Revolution, when the church became parochial —hence the opening of a door in the western façade, and the walling up of some lateral doors. Since 1974, a community of Dominican sisters has taken over what is left of the abbey and thus monastic life has begun anew.
The typically Cistercian, austere, no-frills western façade. The shape of the gable, as well as the minimal decoration surrounding the central window, show the influence of Provençal Romanesque.
The church was regarded as important enough to be listed as a Historic Landmark on Prosper Mérimée’s very first list of 1840.
The Cistercian abbey of Léoncel
[Having returned late last night from a two-week trip to England and a family visit in Normandy, I resume my uploads today. I know that over the coming three or four months, I will be quite busy as I need to shoot a significant number of monuments and sites to illustrate a book on the first 25 years of activity of the Fondation du Patrimoine in the Auvergne–Rhône-Alpes region. I will nevertheless attempt to keep uploading new material to Flickr every day, but please don’t be mad at me if I miss a day here and there...!]
The church of Sainte-Marie de Léoncel is all that is left of the Cistercian abbey that was founded in this valley of northern Drôme (southeastern France) in 1137. The church was quickly built, as it was consecrated in 1188. However, some remodeling and alterations took place until around 1230. Most of the church is pure Romanesque, but as you will see, the roofing of the nave features a budding form of rib vaulting which announces the age of the Gothic.
The abbey was ravaged during the Hundred Years War; only the church was left standing. The cloister and other abbey buildings were never rebuilt. Monastic life endured (albeit down to a substantially degraded degree) until the French Revolution, when the church became parochial —hence the opening of a door in the western façade, and the walling up of some lateral doors. Since 1974, a community of Dominican sisters has taken over what is left of the abbey and thus monastic life has begun anew.
The typically Cistercian, austere, no-frills western façade. The shape of the gable, as well as the minimal decoration surrounding the central window, show the influence of Provençal Romanesque.
The church was regarded as important enough to be listed as a Historic Landmark on Prosper Mérimée’s very first list of 1840.