Fontenay Abbey — Attraction in Montbard

Nestled in a wooded valley in Burgundy, the Abbaye de Fontenay is a well-restored 12th-century Cistercian monastery founded by St. Bernard of Clairvaux.

The lovely, warm-hued Abbey of Fontenay is well worth a visit. The buildings are pristinely restored and the grounds are beautifully landscaped. A clear flowing stream with splashing ducks welcome you at the parking lot. Many medieval buildings can be seen, including the church, cloister, dormitory, abbot's lodging, bakery, infirmary and more.

The abbey church, built from 1139 to 1147, is the oldest Cistercian church remaining in France and one of the best examples of the Cistercian Romanesque architectural style.

Stairs in the south transept lead up to the monks' dormitory, a long room where they slept communally on straw mattresses, separated by low partitions. They slept fully dressed, both for warmth (the room was not heated) and to be ready for midnight services. It has a beautiful roof of hand-hewn beams of Spanish chestnut, dating from the late 15th century.

Back in the church, a small door next to the dormitory stairs leads into the beautiful cloister. Here the monks spent most of their free time, usually reading, working or praying. Some capitals are decoratively carved, but only with restrained...

The place is lovely but remote located.

Be aware that once you arrive there you will not find any coffee place facilities, but only few wall machines. In our case the vendors machine did not work, they were asking for coins......we brought this issue to the Abbey shop people, they replied they are not responsible for these services..... This happen during a very hot summer day.

We suggest to the Abbey management to add a coffee/ice creams place as the British do in their monuments, they could make extra profit for the Abbey!!!

Also a shop team speaking a bit of English...

We really enjoyed our visit to the Fontenay Abbey. We basically had the entire place to ourselves.

The paper guide was provided in English and was all we needed to understand all the different buildings and gardens.

The church was amazing in its simplicity and the attached monks quarters were well preserved. The forge was a highlight with various re-creations of the water hammer first developed and used here.

The gift shop was also nice.

Parking was free and easy to access.

Well worth the detour to see this wonderful...