Abbaye Notre-Dame de La Couronne

La Couronne

At the gates of Angoulême, the ruins of the abbey of La Couronne still raise skywards the tall arcades of their Gothic abbey church — one of the most romantic sights in the Charente. Tradition attributes the foundation to Lambert, known as "the Blessed", a preacher said to have been a disciple of Robert of Arbrissel: around 1110 he gathered a community of canons regular of Saint Augustine; the first stone was laid in 1118 and the religious moved in in 1122, in the presence of the bishop and the count of Angoulême. Growth was swift: as early as 1171, a new church, ample and precociously Gothic, was begun, consecrated in 1201 and surrounded by a cloister, dormitory and refectory rebuilt at the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries. Then the misfortunes came one after another, as everywhere in the Angoumois: the Hundred Years' War scattered the canons and the bell tower collapsed in 1450; the Wars of Religion saw the abbey pillaged and burned between 1562 and 1568. Raised up again in the 17th century — church inaugurated in 1609, Jesuits in 1626, congregation of Sainte-Geneviève in 1644 — it did not survive the Revolution: sold in 1807, it served as a quarry before anyone understood what was being lost. Listed as a monument historique, the ruins today belong in part to the Département. The contrast is striking between the whiteness of the great empty bays, the gardens around them and, close by, the modern cement works: eight centuries of history hanging in the balance.

Getting there : South-west of Angoulême, in the commune of La Couronne. Site shared between the Département of the Charente (church, cloister) and an industrial owner; exteriors visible, visiting conditions to be checked with the mairie of La Couronne. Coordinates given for the abbey.

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

Ambient sound