Abbaye du Lys

Dammarie-lès-Lys

In 1244, Blanche of Castile, regent of France and mother of Saint Louis, had the first stones laid of an abbey of Cistercian nuns on the banks of the Seine, near Melun. The chronicler Joinville tells of a strange family quarrel: Louis IX first proclaimed himself sole founder of the abbey, before acknowledging, a month later, his mother's part in the enterprise. Whoever prevailed, Blanche held the place so dear that at her death in 1252 her heart was carried from the abbey of Maubuisson to rest at Le Lys, while her body remained at Maubuisson. For five centuries the abbey prospered, protected by the kings of France, until the Revolution fell upon it: plundered, it served for a time as a cattle pen, a sad fate for a royal sanctuary. In 1796, its romantic ruins were sold to a Swiss buyer won over by their melancholy beauty. Today, the remains of the Gothic choir still stand proudly in the middle of a public park, their silhouette adorning the logo of the town of Dammarie-lès-Lys, the last visible echo of an act of maternal piety eight centuries old.

Getting there : Parc de l'Abbaye du Lys, 4 km south of Melun, Dammarie-lès-Lys (Seine-et-Marne)

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

Ambient sound