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Origin and history

The Abbey of Our Lady of Sablonceaux, founded in 1136 by Guillaume X, Duke of Aquitaine, is an Augustine monument located in Saintonge. The latter, repentant of having supported the antipope Anaclet II, offered extensive land for his subsistence, under the influence of Bernard de Clairvaux and the hermit Geoffroy de Lauroux. The abbey, placed under the protection of the Duke and Archbishop of Bordeaux, flourished rapidly, becoming a major religious and economic center thanks to its salt marshes, forests and agricultural lands.

In the 12th century, the abbey church, designed in a Romanesque style with a dome nave and an apse, was built. However, the 14th-century Franco-English conflicts severely damaged the abbey, leading to the reconstruction of the choir in a Cistercian Gothic style and the erection of a Gothic bell tower. The wars of Religion in the 16th century aggravated its decadence: looting, burning and dissolution of monastic morals under the regime of the beginning marked this period.

In the 18th century, the merchant Abbé Hardouin de Chalon de Maisonnoble undertook a restoration campaign, adding a baroque abbey house and a altarpiece in the church. The French Revolution transformed the abbey into a national property: sold, partially demolished and used as a stone quarry, it was only saved in the 20th century. Ranked a historic monument in 1907, it was restored from 1962 under the impulse of André Malraux, before being bought in 1987 by the diocese of La Rochelle and Saintes.

Today, the abbey houses the community of Chemin Neuf, which has made it a spiritual, cultural and touristic place. The church, reduced to a dome and a transept, preserves Romanesque and Gothic elements, while the abbey house, classified in 1989, bears witness to the redevelopments of the eighteenth century. The site also hosts artisanal workshops, exhibitions and concerts, perpetuating its central role in local life.

Among the remarkable elements are a classified American walnut planted around 1880, and a baroque portal from 1788 to the badges modified during the Revolution. The abbey also served as the setting for the film Fevers (1942) with Tino Rossi. Its history reflects the political, religious and social upheavals that marked the Saintong of the Middle Ages in contemporary times.

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