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All French heritage classified by regions, departments and cities

  2. Patrimoine
  3. Nouvelle-Aquitaine
  4. Haute-Vienne
  5. 87240 Saint-Sylvestre

  6. Former Grandmont Abbey

Former Grandmont Abbey à Saint-Sylvestre en Haute-Vienne

Haute-Vienne

Former Grandmont Abbey

    5 Place de L’Abbaye
    87240 Saint-Sylvestre
Ancienne abbaye de Grandmont
Ancienne abbaye de Grandmont
Ancienne abbaye de Grandmont
Ancienne abbaye de Grandmont
Ancienne abbaye de Grandmont
Ancienne abbaye de Grandmont
Ancienne abbaye de Grandmont
Ancienne abbaye de Grandmont
Ancienne abbaye de Grandmont
Ancienne abbaye de Grandmont
Ancienne abbaye de Grandmont
Ancienne abbaye de Grandmont
Ancienne abbaye de Grandmont
Crédit photo : Lucas Destrem - Sous licence Creative Commons

Timeline

Moyen Âge central
Bas Moyen Âge
Renaissance
Temps modernes
Révolution/Empire
XIXe siècle
Époque contemporaine
1100
1200
…
1700
1800
1900
2000
1124
Installation in Grandmont
4 septembre 1166
Consecration of the abbey church
1171
Completion of the Abbey
1177
Sale of Marche County
1732-1768
Reconstruction of the Abbey
1772
Dissolution of the Order
1817
Demolition of the last ruins
2015-2017
Protection of remains
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui

Heritage classified

Vestiges de l'abbay de Grandmont : in total, the retaining walls, the soils and the archaeological remains contained therein, Parcels AC 72, 76, 168, 190 and 192 and Parcel B 609, as well as the portion of the route de Mallessard à Grandmont, municipal road No.31, uncadastre, as delimited on the plan annexed to the order: inscription by order of February 10, 2015. The ponds of the Grandmont Abbey, namely the pond of the Sauvages, the pond of the Oaks, the small pond of the Oaks and part of the old pond of the Chambers and their hydraulic network, located at the places-named Les Chênes et les Sauvages in Saint-Sylvestre, and at the place-named La Fayol, in Ambazac, on the parcels delimited in red on the attached plan (see Box II). Saint-Sylvestre B 84, 96, 99, 107, 108, 109, 120, 131, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 581, 611; AC 184; Ambazac B 7): registration by order of 27 June 2017

Key figures

Étienne de Muret - Founder of the Order of Grandmont Originally from Auvergne, died in 1124.
Henri II Plantagenêt - Duke of Aquitaine and patron Finished the lead cover of the abbey.
Richard Cœur de Lion - Son of Henry II Stayed in Grandmont in the 12th century.
Pierre Bernard de Boschiac - Prior and craftsman Contributed to the completion of the abbey in 1171.
Guillaume Briçonnet - Abbé commendataire Minister of Charles VIII, organized a mass in 1499.
François-Xavier Mondain de la Maison Rouge - Last Abbé of Grandmont Died in 1787, marking the end of the community.
Joseph Brousseau - Architect and waste picker Used the abbey materials for the episcopal palace.

Origin and history

The Grandmont Abbey, located at Saint-Sylvestre in Upper Vienna, was founded in the 12th century by Étienne de Muret and his disciples after their expulsion from Ambazac in 1124. Installed on this wooded site, the monks built a dedicated abbey church there in 1166, then completed the building in 1171 thanks to the financial support of Henri II Plantagenet, Duke of Aquitaine, who provided 800 lead carts for the cover. The abbey became the spiritual and administrative heart of the Grandmont Order, attracting gifts from local lords like the Viscounts of Limoges.

In the 12th and 13th centuries, Grandmont experienced a boom linked to its proximity to the court of England: Henry II and his son Richard Coeur de Lion stayed there, and political transactions, such as the sale of Marche County in 1177, were carried out there. The canonization of Stephen de Muret stimulates the creation of reliquary chasses in Limousin enamel, masterpieces of medieval art. However, as early as the 13th century, internal crises and power struggles between priors weakened the abbey, despite regular repairs in the 14th and 15th centuries.

In the 18th century, the abbey, in partial ruin, was rebuilt between 1732 and 1768 under the impulse of the abbot of the Healing, but the order was dissolved in 1772. After the Revolution, the remains were sold as national property, and the stones were reused to build Limoges prison or local houses. The archaeological excavations initiated in 2013 reveal the foundations and hydraulic network ( ponds, canals) created by the monks, while carved or liturgical elements are scattered in nearby churches.

Today, the site, protected under the Historic Monuments since 2015 and 2017, retains nine medieval ponds, three of which are in the Wild Nature Reserve. The chapel of Saint-Jean-Baptiste, built in 1825 in the vicinity, exhibits emancipated reproductions and a model of the Abbey. The archives of the order, transferred to the bishopric of Limoges, are kept in the departmental archives of the Haute-Vienne.

The Grandmont Abbey illustrates the history of the eremitic orders in Limousin, mixing asceticism, political power and artistic heritage. Its decline reflects the religious and social upheavals of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, while its archaeological remains offer a unique testimony of medieval and modern monastic architecture.

External links

Page Wikipedia
Page Monumentum