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Origin and history

The Notre-Dame de Ligueux Abbey, located in the present municipality of Sorges and Ligueux in Périgord (Dordogne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine), was founded as a female Benedictine monastery in the 12th and 13th centuries. The sources mention that it housed relics attributed to Charlemagne, thus attracting pilgrims and local devotion. Its Romanesque abbey church is distinguished by a chapel with four domes, an apse, two apsidioles, and a wooden gate, rare for the period. The crows carved of human figures and the empty niches of the west wall add to its architectural originality.

In the 18th century, the abbey underwent restorations, especially on its church, while the lodge of the priory was transformed into a castle in the 17th century. The current remains, listed as historical monuments since 1951, also include a medieval well, a dovecote, and greenhouses. The site, today on a private property, remains partially visitable. The merger in 2016 of Ligueux with Sorges to form Sorges and Ligueux in Périgord changed its administrative framework, without altering its heritage.

The local historical context is marked by an ancient rural and religious occupation. The region, crossed by communication channels such as the Limoges-Perigueux railway line (19th century), was also the scene of tragic events during the Second World War. In April 1944, a resident of Agonac, arrested by the Germans, was shot in Ligueux at the place called Combe Froide, where a commemorative stele paid tribute to him. These elements highlight the dual spiritual and memorial heritage of the site.

The Abbey illustrates the influence of monastic orders in Périgord, where Benedictines played an economic and social role through agriculture, education, or care. Its gradual decline, like that of many monasteries, is part of the religious and political upheavals of the seventeenth to eighteenth centuries. The present, though fragmentary, remains offer a tangible testimony of this history, supplemented by local studies such as those of Abbé Farnier (1931).

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