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Origin and history

Ourscamp, founded in 1129 by Saint Bernard and Simon de Vermandois, bishop of Noyon, is one of the oldest Cistercian abbeys in Picardie. Located on a site linked to Saint Eloi (VIIth century), it became a major monastery in the North of France, with more than 500 monks in the 13th century. His name comes from a local legend: Saint Éloi would have tied a bear to replace an ox when building an oratory. The abbey, looted during the Great Jacquerie (1358), was rebuilt in the 17th–15th century, before being transformed into a spinning plant in the 19th century.

The abbey church, built in the 12th–13th centuries, was 102 m long. Today, only remains of the Gothic choir and 12th century infirmary, unique in France by its state of conservation. This "room of the dead", vaulted in warheads, housed 100 beds and preserved a retable of Gaspard de Crayer (1640) and a high relief illustrating the legend of the bear. Conventual buildings, renovated in the 18th century, include a classic abbey house. The abbey, classified as Historical Monument in 1840, escapes revolutionary destruction thanks to insolvent buyers.

Sold as a national property in 1792, the abbey became a military hospital, then purchased in 1798 by Maximilian Radix of Sainte-Foix, who destroyed the nave to create "Romantic ruins". Transformed into a spinning plant in 1823, it suffered damage during World War I (1915). Since 1943, it has been occupied by the congregation of the Servants of Jesus and Mary, which carries out religious and artisanal activities there. An association supported its restoration, notably to preserve its organ Roethinger (1948), a neoclassical masterpiece threatened by floods.

The abbey has outbuildings in Paris, such as the Ourscamp hotel (rue François-Miron), acquired in 1248. Daughter of Clairvaux, she is the mother of the abbeys of Beaupré, Mortemer and Froidmont. Its Romanesque grids (XII century), today at the Musée Le Secq des Tournelles (Rouen), testify to its artistic influence. The site, open to the public, offers spiritual retreats and sale of monastic products (mel, soaps).

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