Abbaye royale de Royaumont

Asnières-sur-Oise

Royaumont is the abbey of a thirteen-year-old king. In 1228, the young Louis IX — the future Saint Louis — and his mother Blanche of Castile founded this Cistercian abbey on the banks of the Oise, to which the king devoted immense sums; in barely seven years the largest Cistercian abbey in Île-de-France rose up. Louis did not merely pay for it: the chronicles say he took part in the building work himself, kept coming back to Royaumont, served the monks at table there and tended the sick and disabled with his own hands — scenes his hagiographers fixed forever into the legend of the saintly king. On his death, the abbey received a third of the royal library; it was here that the monk Vincent of Beauvais compiled his vast encyclopedia, one of the greatest summae of medieval knowledge. After the pillaging of the Hundred Years' War and a slow decline, the Revolution sold the abbey, which was turned into a textile mill — the abbey church was then destroyed, leaving only a dizzying turret standing. Bought by the Goüin family, the monument has hosted the Fondation Royaumont since 1964, France's first cultural meeting centre: concerts, recreated medieval gardens, cloister, monks' refectory — the place where one comes closest to the intimate figure of Saint Louis.

Getting there : Fondation Royaumont, Asnières-sur-Oise, in the Oise-Pays de France regional nature park. Open to the public year-round (ticketed); by car, or Viarmes/Luzarches station then taxi or shuttle on certain weekends. Info: royaumont.com.

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

Ambient sound