Abbaye Saint-Étienne d'Aubazine et canal des moines

Aubazines

Around 1130, a hermit priest named Etienne (Stephen) withdrew with a few companions into the wild valley of the Coyroux to lead a life of prayer and work. The community grew so fast that around 1142 Etienne founded, five hundred meters from the men's monastery, a monastery of nuns at Coyroux — a rare double foundation for the period. In 1147, the whole community joined the order of Citeaux. The first stone of the abbey church was laid in 1156 and the church consecrated in 1176: a Cistercian nave that exceeded eighty meters before three bays were removed in 1731. Etienne died in 1159; around 1280, his remains were placed in a carved limestone tomb, traditionally a gift from Saint Louis, one of the finest in the Limousin. The church also holds the oldest liturgical cupboard in Europe (12th-13th century). But the monks' masterpiece runs outside: lacking water on the plateau, they channeled the Coyroux upstream and carved into the granite cliff a canal about 1,500 meters long that fed a fish pond, mills, workshops and gardens. Local tradition tells that an enormous boulder blocked the works and that Etienne's prayer split it apart — this is the 'breche Saint-Etienne' still crossed today by those following the water. Much later, the orphanage housed in the abbey took in the young Gabrielle Chanel, who is said to have remembered the grisaille stained-glass windows when she designed her famous monogram.

Getting there : Abbey church in the center of the village of Aubazines (parking on the square). The canal des moines trail starts behind the abbey and follows the cliff above the Coyroux for about 1.5 km; walking shoes recommended, narrow passages in places.

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

Ambient sound