Abbaye Saint-Pierre d'Hautvillers

Hautvillers

On the hillside overlooking the Marne, Saint Nivard, archbishop of Reims, founded this Benedictine abbey around 650: tradition tells that a dove, alighting on the very spot, showed him the place chosen by heaven. The monastery rose to glory in 841, when the monk Teutgise brought back from Rome — where he had stolen it — a relic of the body of Saint Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine and finder of the True Cross. For nearly a thousand years this treasure drew a considerable pilgrimage, whose revenues allowed the monks to acquire land and vineyards. It was into this setting that a twenty-nine-year-old cellarer, Dom Pierre Pérignon, arrived in 1668. For forty-seven years, until his death in 1715, he reorganised the estate, blended grapes from different crus and perfected winemaking to such a degree that tradition has made him the "spiritual father" of champagne. He rests in the choir of the abbey church of Saint-Sindulphe, beneath a slab of black marble that visitors come from all over the world to see. The abbey was dismantled in 1793 and the relics of Saint Helena left Hautvillers at the Revolution; the church nonetheless keeps a reliquary of the holy empress and that of Saint Nivard, as well as fine woodwork. The village, one of the loveliest in wine-growing Champagne, still lives to the rhythm of the vines planted by the monks.

Getting there : In the heart of the village of Hautvillers, above Épernay. The abbey church of Saint-Sindulphe, now the parish church, is open to visitors; the abbey buildings are private (Moët & Chandon).

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

Ambient sound