Abbaye de la Cour-Notre-Dame

Michery

The story of this abbey begins unexpectedly with the care of lepers: before 1191, a religious house was established at Villuis to take in nuns devoted to this difficult charity. In 1225, the Archbishop of Sens, Gautier Cornu, authorised the establishment of a true abbey of Cistercian nuns at the place called La Cour-Notre-Dame, soon to be transferred to Michery, on the banks of the Oreuse. The old house at Villuis went on serving as a hostel for the children of lepers, while the nuns of Michery continued to run the leper house. The Hundred Years' War devastated the abbey, which never fully recovered: reduced to the rank of a mere priory in 1463, it even saw its nuns replaced by monks in 1496, a rare reversal in the history of the Cistercian order. Of the medieval abbey church, only the choir survives today, converted into a chapel in the 16th century: there you can still admire a walled-up 12th-century rose window, a 15th-century vault and a carved doorway dated 1532. Listed as a historic monument since 1963, this chapel today serves as a farm building, the last discreet witness to an abbey born of care for the most destitute.

Getting there : On the banks of the Oreuse, in the commune of Michery (Yonne)

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

Ambient sound