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Origin and history

The Abbey of Sainte-Marie de Cruas, founded in 804 by Benedictine monks on the site of a Gallo-Roman villa and a Paleo-Christian church (Vth-Vth centuries), was built under the impulse of Count Eribert de Vivarais. The archbishops of Arles, such as Rostang (sixteenth century) or Manasses (th century), exercised a right of protection. Today's Romano-Lombar abbey, with the influences of Velay and Vienna, was consecrated in 1095 by Pope Urban II, marking his medieval climax.

The Wars of Religion (XVI century) and the Hundred Years War (XIV century) ravaged the convent buildings, forcing the monks to take refuge in the heights of the village. The abbey, already weakened, was finally abandoned in the 18th century: in 1741 the bishop of Viviers removed the Conventual Mens, and in 1768 only two monks still resided there. The Revolution completed its decline, although the building was classified as a historical monument in 1862 for its exceptional Romanesque remains.

The architecture of the Abbey is distinguished by a 12th century monastic stand, unique in its kind, and an apse decorated with a Byzantine mosaic. The square, three-storey bell tower combines Romanesque and flamboyant styles (15th century oculus). The crypt, with its archaic capitals carved from animals, illustrates the first fruits of Romanesque art. Excavations of 2020 revealed traces of Crûle flooding in the cellars, confirming the environmental challenges facing the site.

The notable abbots include Ithier d'Arles (Xth century), who consecrated the church, and John de Tournon (XVth century), lord of the Tourettes, involved in local religious conflicts. The Gothic funerary chapel of Abbé Jean Le Merle de Rébé (16th century), dismantled and rebuilt in 2003, bears witness to the funeral importance of the place. The incomes of the abbey, like the seigneury of Lachamp acquired in the 14th century, underline its economic role until the Revolution.

The sanctuary, organized around the monastic rostrum, preserves remarkable liturgical elements: a 11th century grey marble altar (found during excavations), a cross of Christ positioned on a symbolic axis, and a modern ambon. The tabernacle and presidency, placed on both sides of the abside, reflect a preserved medieval spatial organization. These details, combined with the adorned capitals and the tower-lantern, make Cruas a masterpiece of Southern Romanesque art.

Abandoned and then reinvested by the monks between 1628 and 1741, the Abbey was also a stone quarry in the 19th century, its ruins being used to build the houses of the village. Today, it is a communal property, visiting and revealing, through its architectural strata, nearly a thousand years of religious, political and artistic history in Vivarais.

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