Abbaye de Valmagne

Villeveyrac

Nestling among its own vines between Montpellier and Sète, the abbey of Sainte-Marie de Valmagne owes its foundation in 1138 to Raymond Trencavel, Viscount of Béziers. Benedictine at first, the community joined the order of Cîteaux as early as 1145, as a daughter house of the abbey of Bonnevaux, and reached its height from the 12th to the early 14th century with nearly three hundred monks, granges, mills and town houses as far afield as Montpellier and Béziers. The rebuilding of the Gothic abbey church, begun in 1257, gave the building proportions and an elevation worthy of the great cathedrals of the North, earning Valmagne the nickname of the "cathedral of the vines". Decline set in with the Black Death of 1348, then the Wars of Religion: sacked by Huguenot troops in 1575, the abbey recovered only partially in the 17th century before being sold as national property at the Revolution. The act that then saved the building from destruction was also the most unexpected: in 1791, its new owner turned the Gothic nave into a wine cellar, where huge oak casks replaced the altars beneath the rib vaults. Bought back in 1838 by the de Turenne family, who still own it, Valmagne has for nearly nine centuries carried on this wine-growing vocation, nestled at the heart of an intact spiritual heritage.

Getting there : Wine estate and abbey open to visitors (admission charge), at Villeveyrac

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

Ambient sound