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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Notre-Dame Abbey of Bourg-Moyen, founded in Blois between the 7th and 11th centuries, was initially a Merovingian monastery dedicated to Sainte-Marie. Transformed into an Augustinian abbey in 1122, it competed with Saint-Laumer abbey, more favored by kings and Counts. Its Romanesque building, attested to in 1105, was partially destroyed during the Wars of Religion (16th century) before being rebuilt until the Revolution.

In 1273, Count Jean I of Blois-Châtillon installed the Dominicans there, replacing the Abbey of Saint-Gervais. Fortified in the 14th century with a crenellated enclosure and towers, the abbey suffered damage during religious conflicts. In the 18th century, its property was seized as national property, and its buildings, sold or transformed (college in the 19th century).

The crypt, the only notable vestige with a commemorative plaque, was classified as a historic monument in 1945. The abbey, destroyed in 1940 by bombardments, gave way to the square Valin-de-la-Vissière. Its history reflects local religious tensions, from its Merovingian foundation to its revolutionary dissolution, through its educational and defensive roles.

Architecturally, the abbey church, in Latin cross, included a semi-entered crypt, a bell tower, and a lantern tower illuminating the choir. Its thick walls (1.5 m) and foothills testify to its Romanesque style. The lower courtyard was home to outbuildings ( stables, seedries), while the upper courtyard included cemetery and gardens, protected by a 14th century wall.

After the Protestant destruction, an abbatial house and a frame arrow were added. The wall bordering the Loire was partially demolished in the 18th century to build a quay and a wooded terrace. These changes illustrate his adaptation to military, economic (recovery of stones in 1806) and urban (Augustin-Thierry Collège).

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