Abbaye de Port-Royal des Champs

Magny-les-Hameaux

Founded in 1204 by Mathilde de Garlande with the funds left by her husband Mathieu de Marly before his departure on the Fourth Crusade, the abbey of Port-Royal des Champs had its decisive hour with the young abbess Angélique Arnauld: appointed in 1602, converted in 1608 during a Capuchin's sermon, from 1609 she imposed a rigorous reform — the restoration of common ownership of goods and of enclosure — marked by the famous "Journée du Guichet" (Day of the Grille, 1609), when she refused her own family entry to the monastery. In the 17th century the Rhodon valley became the home of Jansenism: the Solitaires withdrew there, the Petites Écoles opened at Les Granges from 1652, and Blaise Pascal made a retreat there in 1656, at the time of the Provincial Letters; Agnès Racine, aunt of Jean Racine, was abbess there. Judged rebellious by Louis XIV and Rome, the community was expelled in 1709; its destruction was ordered in 1710 and the abbey razed between 1710 and 1713. What remain are moving ruins — the site of the cloister planted with lime trees, a 15th-century dovecote, a medieval canal, a physic garden —, an oratory rebuilt in 1891 and, on the plateau, the Les Granges farm, a national museum since 1952, with its paintings by Philippe de Champaigne and the well known as Pascal's well.

Getting there : Musée national de Port-Royal des Champs, route des Granges de Port-Royal, 78114 Magny-les-Hameaux (Chevreuse valley); open every day except Tuesday; full price €4.50, park only €1, free on the first Sunday of the month

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

Ambient sound