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Origin and history

The abbey of Notre-Dame de Bonlieu, founded around 1119 by Géraud de Salles (or Salis) and his companions monks of the abbey of Dalon, implanted on the manse of Mazerolles, offered by Amelius de Chambon. The first sanctuary, consecrated in 1141 as Bonus Locus ("Bolieu"), symbolized religious piety. The abbey, enriched by donations from local lords, counted up to 17 agricultural barns, including that of La Porte, still visible today.

In 1162, Bonlieu and his mother house Dalon were attached to the Cistercian order under the filiation of Pontigny, becoming the largest abbey of the Creuse. Its abbey church, built between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, was consecrated in 1232. The consecration crosses, always visible in the ruins of the choir, bear witness to this period. The abbey was looted by the English during the Hundred Years' War and by the Huguenots during the Wars of Religion.

In the 15th century, a defensive dungeon and the abbot's house (reorganized in the 18th century) were added, while the 17th century saw hydraulic installations on the Tardes, called Cascades de Bonlieu. Sold as a national property in 1792 to the Picon brothers, dyers of Aubusson, the abbey lost its church in the 19th century, of which two spans of the nave remain, the bedside in ruins and the north transept transformed into a chapel in 1877. The facades and roofs were classified as Historic Monument in 1963.

The site preserves a medieval bridge with broken arches, buildings arranged in quadrilateral, and decorative elements such as a grey stained glass window (the oldest in France) and ceramic tiles, today at the museum of Guéret. The abbey illustrates Cistercian architecture mixed with local defensive and agricultural adaptations.

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