Abbaye Royale de Fontevraud · Fontevraud Abbey
Vast royal abbey founded in 1101, mother house of the Fontevrist order and necropolis of leading Plantagenets including Eleanor of Aquitaine and Richard the Lionheart.
Sacred Place Overview
Identity, documented context and sacred significance.
Royal Abbey of Fontevraud is in Fontevraud-l’Abbaye, Pays de la Loire, France and is a vast royal abbey founded in 1101, mother house of the Fontevrist order and necropolis of leading Plantagenets including Eleanor of Aquitaine and Richard the Lionheart.. Robert d’Arbrissel established a religious community of men and women at Fontevraud in 1101 under the protection of the counts of Anjou.
The abbey became the centre of the Fontevrist order and later a royal and Plantagenet burial place. Monastic life ended during the Revolution; in the 19th century the complex became a prison. It is now preserved as a major cultural and heritage site within the UNESCO-listed Loire Valley.
Its documented heritage context includes Royal monastic complex and Plantagenet necropolis; it is also recorded as Component of The Loire Valley between Sully-sur-Loire and Chalonnes — World Heritage Site (2000). Fontevraud’s surviving church and royal effigies preserve the memory of its monastic and dynastic past even though the community itself no longer functions as an abbey. Visitors encounter it today as a heritage complex whose sacred history remains central to its interpretation.
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Robert d'Arbrissel established a religious community of men and women at Fontevraud in 1101 under the protection of the counts of Anjou. The abbey became the centre of the Fontevrist order and later a royal and Plantagenet burial place. Monastic life ended during the Revolution; in the 19th century the complex became a prison. It is now preserved as a major cultural and heritage site within the UNESCO-listed Loire Valley.
Fontevraud is a former monastic complex now used for heritage and cultural purposes; its sacred importance is historical rather than that of an active abbey community.
Royal monastic complex and Plantagenet necropolis · Component of The Loire Valley between Sully-sur-Loire and Chalonnes — World Heritage Site (2000)
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