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Fontenay

Founded in 1119 by saint Bernard, Fontenay is the daughterhouse of Clairvaux. In the hollow of a wooded glen, the abbey is today an exceptional intact and uniform estate. The XIIth and XIIIth century buildings, such as the Cistercian church, the cloister, the chapter house, the monks' house, the warming room and the forge have been preserved. The refectory, destroyed in the XVIIIth century, is the only major construction missing. The accommodation for the commendatory abbots and the XVIIIth century infirmary are more recent constructions which complete the layout of the abbey. At its peak, nearly two hundred monks lived at Fontenay, but just before the French Revolution only around twelve remained. Sold as a national asset in 1790, the abbey was bought by Elie de Montgolfier in 1820, who transformed the site into a paper mill, requisitioning all the buildings for the needs of the factory. In 1906, Edouard Aynard, major art collector, bought Fontenay off his father-in-law and begin to demolish all the factory buildings to ?extract Fontenay from its industrial cloak?. Today, the abbey belongs to the same family who continues its work to preserve the site. Fontenay receives around 100000 visitors each year and became a Unesco world heritage site in 1981.