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Rivet (Le)

A document of 1729 makes go raise the Abbey of the Rivet in the time of Charlemagne. This monastery was affiliated to the Cistercian Order in 1189, by the Abbey of Ponteaux, itself of the filiation of Pontigny. On April 22nd, 1288, king of England, Edouard Ier grants an annuity to the monastery. This one will be set up as abbey in 1408. Tried by the Hundred Years' War which was terrible in the region, the abbey counts no more than five monks in 1478. In the XVIIth century, several abbots of the Rivet restored quite at the same time the conventual life and the buildings. In 1702, Louis XIV named an abbot commendataire. There was at this moment only a monk. The XVIIIth century is marked by the construction and the ornamentation of the abbey to the baroque taste of time. It was a prosperous period. In the Revolution, there were only two monks. Become very national, the monastery was sold on March 30th, 1791 and a part of its furnishing scattered. Then, in 1938-1939, the Cistercian moniales of Blagnac (Haute-Garonne) which looked since 1936 for a new domain, settled down in the Rivet. There was a lot to restore and to fit out during the war years which were very difficult and the sisters worked very hard and lived a very poor life to face all the expenses. Today the monastic life continues in this place steeped in history and we continue to restore and to fit out!