Fontaine Saint-Thibault (abbaye des Vaux de Cernay)

Cernay-la-Ville

In a marshy valley given in 1118 by Simon de Neauphle, twelve monks from Savigny founded what would become one of the great Cistercian abbeys of Île-de-France: more than two hundred monks lived there in the 13th century. That was when Thibault de Marly arrived, a brilliant knight of the Montmorency family who, in 1226, renounced the world to take the habit; in 1235 he became the ninth abbot of Les Vaux de Cernay, renowned for his holiness. Tradition relates that King Louis IX — the future Saint Louis — and Queen Margaret of Provence, long without children, came to seek his intercession: after the abbot's prayers and water drunk at the estate's spring, the royal couple had eleven children. The story made the fountain's fortune: after Thibault's canonisation at the end of the 13th century, generations of women longing for a child came to pray to the saint and drink at the Saint-Thibault spring. The abbey itself met a harsher fate: dissolved in 1791, its reliquaries smashed in 1793 — the saint's skull, hidden away, was not found again until 1968 — it was dismantled stone by stone before the Rothschild family, from 1873, saved its romantic ruins. Today, between the remains of the abbey church and the ponds, the little healing fountain still awaits walkers in the hollow of the woods of the Chevreuse valley.

Getting there : Coordinates of the fountain (source: Seevisit), in the Vaux de Cernay estate, between Cernay-la-Ville and Auffargis. The estate, private property turned hotel (Paris Society), remains partly open to visitors — an agreement of 1927 with the Rothschilds guaranteed public access on fixed days and hours; check current conditions before visiting. Footpaths of the Cernay valley nearby (Haute Vallée de Chevreuse regional nature park).

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound