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Origin and history

The abbey of Saint-Pierre de Brantôme, located in the eponymous commune of Dordogne (New Aquitaine), was founded in 769 by Charlemagne as a Benedictine monastery. According to tradition, the emperor placed there the relics of Saint Sicaire, a child martyr, illustrated by two seventeenth-century panels in the church choir. This first monastery, destroyed by the Vikings in 848 and 857, was rebuilt around the year 900 thanks to Bernard, Count of Périgord, marking the beginning of a period of prosperity.

In the 11th century, the abbey adopted a Romanesque campanile bell tower, unique in France by its construction on a rocky overhang of 12 meters. The troglodytic caves, dug in the limestone cliff, housed monastic spaces (heater, mill, dovecote) and a fountain dedicated to Saint Sicaire, still venerated. The Hundred Years War (14th-15th centuries) caused significant damage: the abbey was fortified by the English in 1404, then restored after 1465, with the reconstruction of the cloister (14th century) and the church.

The Renaissance marked a turning point with abbots who were commendataires, including Pierre de Bourdeille (1558–14), known as Brantôme, whose abbatiat protected the monastery during the Wars of Religion. The successive reforms (congregation of Chezal-Benoît in 1559 and then of Saint-Maur in 1636) revived monastic life, despite a gradual decline: in 1768 only eight monks lived there. The abbey was abolished at the Revolution, but its buildings — abbey church (XI–XIII centuries), cloister (XIVth), and convenual houses (XVIIIth) — remain today.

The architecture of Brantôme blends Romanesque (clocher, nave) and Gothic (15th century vaults), with Renaissance facilities such as the Guard Corps Pavilion (1495). The caves, including the Cave of Last Judgment adorned with bas-reliefs of the 15th and 17th centuries, bear witness to monastic spirituality. Classified as a historical monument in 1840, the abbey now houses the city hall, two museums, and a restaurant in the old mill. Closed in 2023 for security, its reopening is planned in 2025.

The protections for historical monuments cover the church (1840), the cloister (1957), the caves, and the gardens (registered in 2025). The changes of the 19th century, such as the removal of three galleries from the cloister by Paul Abadie (1858), or the staircase of Vauban (17th century), reflect its evolution. The site, surrounded by the Dronne, remains a unique example of troglodytic abbey, linked to Benedictine history and the road to Compostela.

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