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Origin and history

The Notre-Dame Abbey of Bourg-Moyen, founded in the 7th or 11th century in Blois, was a major Augustine convent from 1122. Its Romanesque church, built in the 2nd half of the 12th century, had a semi-entered crypt, a vaulted nave in a cradle, and an imposing bell tower. It housed relics and a liturgical swimming pool, illuminated by a tower-lantern at the transept.

The abbey, fortified in the 14th century with a creneled wall and two towers, was partially destroyed by Protestants during the Wars of Religion. Rebuilt until the Revolution, it was sold as national property in 1790. The church, transformed into a stable, was demolished in 1806 to recover its stones, leaving only two columns with carved capitals, classified in 1928.

In the 19th century, the remaining buildings housed a college, later named lycée Augustin-Thierry. Destroyed by German bombings in 1940, the site became the Valin-de-la-Vissière square. Today, only a commemorative plaque, the rue du Bourg-Moyen, and the crypt, classified in 1945, remain. The abbey once competed with other religious communities in Blois, such as Saint-Laumer or Saint-Sauveur.

The church's architecture combined 1.5-metre thick walls supported by foothills, a semicircular apse, and three absidial chapels. Not bright, it was decorated with stone benches and relic closets. The capitals of the gemine columns, the only major remains, represent two horsemen confronted, testifying to the Romanesque art of the twelfth century.

The high courtyard of the abbey consisted of the church, a cemetery and gardens, while the lower courtyard housed outbuildings ( stables, seed shops). A 14th century wall, with crenellated towers, protected the whole. After 1750, a wharf was built along the Loire River, changing access to the river. The dissolution of 1790 marked the end of his religious role, replaced by civilian usages.

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