Abbaye de Montmajour

Arles

On a rock that was a true island ringed by marshes until modern drainage, the Benedictine abbey of Montmajour was born in 948: in October 949, the noblewoman Teucinde bought "the island of Montmajour" from the archbishop of Arles and gave it to the monks. From the 11th century, the abbey became the necropolis of the counts of Provence, while a rock-cut cemetery spread around the chapel of Sainte-Croix, built around 1170–1180 in the shape of a four-lobed reliquary: dozens of tombs hewn straight into the rock are still visible. The "pardon of Montmajour", instituted around 1019–1030 around a relic of the True Cross, drew up to 150,000 pilgrims a year. Between 1365 and 1370, under Abbot Pons de l'Orme, the master builder Guillaume Helinc raised the defensive keep that gives the monastery its fortress silhouette. Secularised in 1786 and sold as national property at the Revolution, the abbey decayed until it was bought by the town of Arles in 1838; listed as a monument historique as early as 1840 and restored by Henri Révoil, it became state property in 1945. In July 1888, Vincent van Gogh came several times to draw and paint the rock and its ruins, adding Montmajour to the legendary geography of the landscapes of Arles.

Getting there : Route de Fontvieille, 4 km north-east of Arles; national monument open to visitors (admission charge), parking nearby

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

Ambient sound