Abbaye de Vauclair

Bouconville-Vauclair

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux founded the abbey of Vauclair in 1134, at the request of Barthélemy de Jur, bishop of Laon, on a wooded plateau overlooking the valley of the Ailette. For nearly seven hundred years, the Cistercian monks led a life of prayer and labour here, clearing and cultivating the surrounding land. In the early 20th century, what remained of the abbey buildings was almost totally annihilated. Of eight centuries of monastic history there then remained only jagged stretches of wall, collapsed vaults and a great silence. Since then, the Amis de Vauclair association has watched over these evocative ruins, which it has surrounded with an arboretum planted with old varieties of apple and pear trees, and with a garden of medicinal plants laid out in 1976 on the model of medieval monastic gardens — a way of making life flower again among the ruins.

Getting there : On the Chemin des Dames, near Craonne (Aisne); site open to visitors

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

Ambient sound