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Origin and history

The Priory of Saint-Jean-des-Bonshommes is a monastery of the Order of Grandmont, built in the early 13th century in the forest of Plausse, on the site of an ancient sanctuary. Founded in 1189 in the woods of Charbonnières thanks to the donations of Anséric IV of Montreal before his departure for the third crusade, it became a dependence of the priory of Vieupou in 1317 after the reform of order by Pope John XXII. The site, which had 13 religious in 1280, includes a 32 m long chapel, vaulted in bricks, as well as vestiges of the capitular hall, refectory and kitchens.

The Hundred Years' War and the Wars of Religion marked its decline: in 1576, it was devastated by the German reappearers in the service of the Huguenot Jean-Casimir des Deux-Ponts. Restored in the 17th century, it was abolished in 1772 by Clement XIV, then sold as national property in 1791. A fire in 1846 destroyed a large part of the buildings, saving only the chapel. Acquired in 1905 by the Avallon Study Society, it was classified as a historical monument in the same year and transformed into a lapidary museum.

The priory drew the attention of Eugene Viollet-le-Duc in 1840, who drew there the double swimming pool (lavabo) of the chapel, later integrated into his Reasoned Dictionary of Architecture. After centuries of transformation (agricultural property, stone quarry in 1904), the site remains today managed by the learned society, which provides maintenance and summer visits. In 2025, it was put on sale.

The architecture of the priory illustrates the greatmontain style, characterized by functional austerity and rigorous spatial organization. The chapel, one of the few intact examples of this order, is distinguished by its brick vaults and its narrow rectangular plane. The vestiges of the capitular hall (five arcades) and the refectory bear witness to medieval monastic life, while the later modifications (XVIIth–XIXth centuries) reflect its adaptation to lay uses.

The protection of the site, obtained since 1905, raises the early commitment of learned societies to the preservation of heritage. The Avallon Study Society, founded in 1859, played a key role in saving the ruins of total destruction and creating a stone museum with the help of Abbé Jules Giraud and the sculptor Georges Loiseau-Bailly. This case illustrates the transition from religious monuments to cultural spaces after the 1905 Law on Ecclesiastical Property.

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