Abbaye de Belleperche

Cordes-Tolosannes

At the confluence of the Tarn and the Garonne, the abbey of Belleperche was one of the largest Cistercian monasteries in Languedoc. Around 1130–1140, the Argombat family gave an estate; in 1143, monks from Clairvaux settled there, making Belleperche the forty-fourth daughter house of the great abbey founded by Saint Bernard. The community prospered until it numbered eighty monks at its medieval peak, draining the marshy lands of the confluence to grow vines and cereals. The Wars of Religion struck the site hard: the abbot's palace, built in 1563, was damaged as early as 1572, before being restored between 1604 and 1614. Weakened, the community declined slowly until its closure at the Revolution, in 1791. The conventual buildings then went through two centuries of assorted uses before being rescued by the Département, which today houses there the Musée des Arts de la Table, showing off its vaulted halls and ancient timber roofs. One unusual relic recalls the medieval imagination of the place: a carved corbel depicting a fabulous creature with the body of a lion and a human head once adorned the monks' refectory. Between Cistercian spirituality and the art of living, Belleperche remains a great site where the silence of the cloisters converses with the light of the confluence.

Getting there : Musée des Arts de la Table (museum of the art of dining) housed in the former abbey, open to the public, admission charge

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

Ambient sound