Abbaye royale de Saint-Jean-d'Angély

Saint-Jean-d'Angély

In 817 Pépin I, king of Aquitaine, founded on the Boutonne a monastery to house a relic that he held, according to tradition, from the East: the head of John the Baptist. The Vikings plundered the abbey several times; the relic, hidden, was found again in 1010 by Abbot Alduin, and Duke William the Great had the monastery rebuilt, which Geoffroy Martel and Agnès of Burgundy endowed richly in 1047. It was then that Saint-Jean-d'Angély entered the geography of pilgrimage: the Book of Saint James, around 1140, names it among the stages of the road from Tours, between Saint-Hilaire of Poitiers and Saint-Eutrope of Saintes, and orders one to visit there "the venerable head of the blessed John the Baptist". The pilgrims' offerings made it one of the richest abbeys of the West, and a Gothic abbey church rose from the 12th century. The Hundred Years' War ruined it; the Wars of Religion finished it: plundered in 1562, it was destroyed in 1568 by the Huguenots, and the relic vanished in the fire. The monks, having returned, built from 1622 the classical monastery one sees, with its high roofs and its cloister of 1644, then undertook in 1741 a new church whose building the Revolution halted: there remain of it only the façade and two towers without spires, "the Towers", which served for a time as a prison. The abbey, having become a school and then a cultural centre, keeps its refectory painted in grisaille and its library.

Wikipédia — Abbaye royale de Saint-Jean-d'Angély ↗

Getting there : By the A10 (Saint-Jean-d'Angély exit) or by train (station on the Niort-Saintes line). The towers and the abbey courtyard can be seen freely from the street and the square; the interior (painted refectory, library, exhibitions) opens according to the hours of the cultural centre and the guided tours of the tourist office — enquire.

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

Ambient sound