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Origin and history

The abbey of Notre-Dame de Langonnet, founded on 20 June 1136 by Conan III, Duke of Brittany, and his mother Ermengarde d'Anjou, is a Cistercian establishment originally occupied by twelve monks from the abbey of Almône. Located in a swampy environment restored by the monks, it became a major religious and economic center, with 82 villages, mills and forests in the 16th century. Father Maurice Duault founded in 1177 the Abbey of Carnoët, strengthening his regional influence.

In the Middle Ages, the abbey suffered destruction during the War of Succession of Brittany (XIVth century) and the unrest of the League (1595), where it was transformed into a stable. Rebuilt between 1650 and 1780, it housed a church dedicated in 1789. At the Revolution, the monks were expelled in 1790, and the site became a refuge for the Chouans before being vandalized. The abbey, sold as a national property without a buyer, was rented to the Bréban family, who hid refractory priests there.

In the 19th century, Napoleon I installed the first public stud in Brittany in 1806, despite the ruin of the site. The haras prospered until its transfer to Hennebont in 1857. The abbey was then returned to the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit, who established a model farm and an agricultural colony for children. In 1880, it housed a secondary school, a scholasticate and a novitiate, becoming a key location for missions in Africa. The translation of the relics of Saint Maurice de Carnoët in 1880 attracted 20,000 faithful.

Today's architecture mixes 13th-century remains, such as the ogival capitular hall, with 17th–XX century reconstructions. The capitular hall, the only medieval vestige, features stone vaults and deciduous capitals. The present cloister dates back to the 1930s. The abbey now houses an African art museum, a missionary animation centre and serves as a resting place for older spiritans.

Ranked a historic monument in 1928 for its capitular hall, the abbey illustrates the successive transformations of a monastic site: place of religious power in the Middle Ages, imperial haras, and then missionary center. Its enclosure preserves traces of Cistercian activities ( ponds, mills, tannery) and developments related to the studs ( stables).

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