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Origin and history

The Vauclair Abbey, founded in 1134 by Bernard de Clairvaux at the request of Barthélemy de Jur, Bishop of Laon, is a Cistercian abbey located in the Ailette Valley, 15 km south of Laon. It was built on a site already occupied by a church, ceded by the bishop with his outbuildings. From its foundation she became the 15th daughter of Clairvaux Abbey, led by Henri Murdac, an English monk. Thanks to the donations of rich families, she quickly prospered, acquiring land and farms, and founded two abbey girls: Notre-Dame du Reclus (1142) and Notre-Dame de la Charmoye (1167). It was enlarged in the 13th century and its present remains date back to this reconstruction.

During the Hundred Years' War, the abbey suffered damage and then experienced difficulties during the Wars of Religion in the 16th century. During the Revolution, it was declared a national property, sold in 1791 and transformed into a farm. His major destruction occurred in 1917 at the Battle of the Way of the Lady, where the buildings were razed by the bombings. Only remains remain today, classified as historical monuments since 1970.

In 1966, Father René Courtois, a Belgian Jesuit, undertook excavations that revealed major remains and a treasure of 4,200 silver pieces from the 16th-17th centuries, buried in cloth bags. He also created a medicinal plant garden (400 species), inaugurated in 1976, and an arboretum of ancient fruit varieties, opened in 1990. These spaces, managed by the Friends of Vauclair Association since 2006, complement the historic site.

The Abbey was an influential religious center, linked to Clairvaux and figures like Saint Bernard. Its architecture, partially rebuilt in the 13th century, included a church demolished in the 19th century and an intact converse building until 1914. Today, the site combines classified ruins, historical memory and cultural vocations, while paying homage to Father Courtois, buried in the heart of the remains.

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