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Origin and history

The abbey Saint-Jean-des-Prémontrés was founded in 1124 by Guy de Flixecourt, chestnut of Amiens, near the church Saint-Firmin-au-Val. In 1136 it was transferred to the banks of the Selle thanks to a donation by Gérard de Picquigny, vidame d'Amiens. The abbey was supported by Count Jean de Ponthieu and King Philippe-Auguste, who donated to him in 1185 and 1190. It became one of the richest abbeys in Amiens, with annual revenues of 26,000 pounds around 1730.

In 1358, the abbey was ruined by the troops of Charles the Bad, king of Navarre, before being raised between 1474 and 1488 by Jacques Foulon. In 1597, it was destroyed during the siege of Amiens by the Spanish troops of Hernán Tello de Portocarrero. The religious then took refuge in the muros and rebuilt the buildings under the abbatiate of Antoine Séguier, then René Pavie, who restored the conventual rules in the 17th century.

In the 18th century, Étienne de Fay, abbot and architect, drew up plans for the current reconstruction and created a cabinet of curiosities. The abbey was abolished in 1790 during the Revolution, its church demolished and its buildings transformed into high school. Bombarded in 1940, only its external structure remained. Ranked a historic monument in the same year, it was restored after the war and now houses cultural activities, such as the Dewailly Hall.

The current buildings, rebuilt after 1940, reuse the exterior walls of the 17th and 18th centuries, organized around a cloister designed by Étienne de Fay. The courtyard of honour, delimited by a U-shaped building, preserves a 17th century vaulted gallery and a stone entrance decorated with a wrought iron balcony. A statue of Abbé Lhomond, the work of Gideon de Forceville, is on display.

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