Abbatiale Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul d'Orbais

Orbais-l'Abbaye

Tucked away at the bottom of the Surmelin valley lies one of the little-known masterpieces of early Gothic art. The Benedictine abbey was founded and endowed around 677–680 by Saint Réol, archbishop of Reims, on lands granted by King Theuderic III. Its schools, a veritable academy where letters and the sciences were taught, drew clerics from all over Europe: the most famous was the monk Gottschalk of Orbais, a 9th-century theologian whose doctrine of double predestination caused a scandal and who was condemned and imprisoned until his death. Plundered by the Hungarians in 937, burned during the Hundred Years' War, ravaged by the Wars of Religion, the abbey rose again each time. Its abbey church, begun shortly before 1180 and completed in the early 13th century, is attributed to Jean d'Orbais, one of the four architects of Reims Cathedral: its choir with ambulatory and five radiating chapels is thought to have been the testing ground for the Reims project, which has earned the village the nickname of "Reims's little sister". The nave, originally 78 metres long, lost its vaults in 1651 and was reduced to two bays; there survive stained glass of the 12th–13th centuries, carved choir stalls of 1520–1525 and abbots' tomb slabs. The whole, moving in its solitude, can be visited freely.

Getting there : In the centre of the village of Orbais-l'Abbaye, in the Surmelin valley, between Montmirail and Dormans. Parish church open during the day.

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

Ambient sound