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Origin and history

The Abbey of Clausonne, founded in 1185 by the order of Chalais (Benedictine branch), was a daughter of the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Lure. It followed the typical plan of the Chalaisian abbeys, but with a peculiarity: its cloister was located to the north, reversing the traditional arrangement. The site, chosen for the quality of its land, became an agricultural estate as early as the 16th century, as evidenced by an inventory of 1566 mentioning a mill, furnished rooms and an important herd.

The gradual destruction of the abbey began in 1573, when Montbrun, lieutenant of Lesdiguières, partially damaged it. In 1692 the troops of the Duke of Savoy burned the remains and destroyed the archives. After the Revolution, in 1790, it was sold as national property. The remaining buildings were transformed into a farm, village chapel (with the bell now preserved in the Saix), school and town hall. The village of Clausonne, attached to the Saix in 1880, was abandoned in 1948 after the acquisition of the territory by the National Forestry Office.

Rediscovered in 1994 thanks to the intervention of General Mourès and the 4th Regiment of Gap Hunters, the abbey was the subject of excavations and consolidations (north wall in 1998, covering the choir in 2012). Since 1995, its remains have been listed as historical monuments. In 2023, a project of walking roaming between Chalisian abbeys, following the old transhumance paths of the monks, was launched in collaboration with the abbey of Boscodon.

Architecturally, the abbey presented remarkable elements such as a door of the converses in the middle of the hangar, an armarium (book niche) in broken arch, and crows of vaults still visible. The excavations revealed straight feet of the "gate of the Monks", giving access to the choir. Today, the Association of Friends of Clausonne works to preserve the ruins, while the site remains a rare testimony of the order of Chalais in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.

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