Abbaye Notre-Dame de Quincy

Tanlay

In 1133, twelve monks left the powerful abbey of Pontigny to settle a little further south and found Quincy, in the hollow of a quiet valley of the Yonne. The community lived there under the Cistercian rule for more than six centuries, until the Revolution dispersed the monks and gave the cloister and abbey church over to demolition. Part of the monks' building, a solid two-storey structure, together with a residential lodging, nevertheless came through the centuries and have reached us. The story of Quincy then took an unexpected turn: in 2022, with the agreement of the archdiocese, a Benedictine monk, Dom Boniface Hill, came to settle here again, picking up the thread of a monastic presence thought to have died out since the Revolution. Restoration studies have since been undertaken on the abbot's lodging and the guests' chapel, gradually bringing this history-laden site back to life. Between ancient stones and spiritual renewal, Quincy illustrates in its own way the persistence, eight centuries on, of the Cistercian call in the countryside around Tonnerre.

Getting there : At the hamlet of Quincy, in the commune of Tanlay, some ten kilometres east of Tonnerre

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

Ambient sound