Abbaye Saint-Georges de Boscherville

Saint-Martin-de-Boscherville

The site of Boscherville illustrates two thousand years of sacred continuity: a Gallo-Roman temple of the 1st century, transformed into a fanum in the 2nd, then a funerary chapel of the Frankish period preceded the present church. Around 1055, Raoul de Tancarville, Chamberlain of Normandy, installed a collegiate church of canons here; in 1113–1114, his son William I of Tancarville replaced it with a Benedictine abbey. The abbey church of Saint-Georges, almost entirely Romanesque, received only Gothic vaults in the 13th century and ranks among the best-preserved Romanesque churches in Normandy. Prosperous thanks to the gifts of the Tancarvilles and of King Henry I until the mid-13th century, the abbey declined after the founding family died out in 1305, was stripped of its ornaments during the Wars of Religion (1562–1570) and escaped an attempted arson in 1590. The Maurists rebuilt the claustral buildings from 1659. Suppressed in 1790 at the Revolution, the abbey church became a parish church in 1792, which saved it from ruin. Its 17th-century formal gardens, restored with kitchen garden, orchard and beds of medicinal plants, hold the Jardin remarquable label. Protection as monuments historiques granted in stages from 1840 to 1989.

Getting there : In the village of Saint-Martin-de-Boscherville, west of Rouen; abbey church, monastic buildings and gardens open to visitors (admission charge); information at abbaye-saint-georges.com.

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

Ambient sound