Abbaye Notre-Dame du Vœu

Cherbourg-en-Cotentin

The abbey was founded in 1145 by the Empress Matilda, daughter of Henry I Beauclerc and granddaughter of William the Conqueror. According to 17th-century sources, caught in a storm at sea, she vowed to raise a church to the Virgin wherever she came ashore — hence the name Notre-Dame du Vœu, Our Lady of the Vow; historians see in it rather the renewal of a vow made by her grandfather the Conqueror during an illness. Augustinian canons from Saint-Victor in Paris settled there around 1160, and the abbey church was consecrated in 1181 in the presence of Henry II Plantagenet. Pillaged as early as 1293–1296 and then ravaged during the Hundred Years' War, the abbey declined under commendatory abbots before being suppressed by royal decree on 12 October 1774. Swallowed up by the building of the naval port from 1778, it became a naval hospital (1793–1866) and stood beside the Cherbourg penal colony (1796–1830). Listed as a monument historique in 1913 and in its entirety in 2002, it has been reborn since 1964: the 13th-century portal, Gothic chapter house and refectory bear witness to the ducal foundation.

Getting there : Rue de l'Abbaye, western district of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin (formerly Cherbourg-Octeville), near the naval base; restored site open to visitors during exhibitions and events, the abbot's lodging displaying carved stone remains.

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

Ambient sound