Auberive Abbey (FR) front. by Susan Hol

About "Auberive Abbey (FR) front."

by Susan Hol

About the artwork

In the French village of Auberive stands an abbey from the 12th century. It was founded by Cistercian monks in 1135. It was rebuilt in the 18th century. Recently (around 2020), parts of the abbey and its surroundings have been refurbished.
The building is enormously wide in plan. Moreover, there are three floors, plus an attic. At the front, right in the middle, a facade was created that protrudes slightly forward. In the facade is placed the front door. A balcony can be seen above the front door, with French doors behind it. A pediment forms the triangular crowning of the facade. To the right of the balcony and the front door there are ten windows, similarly on the left.
The monastery was quite wealthy in the thirteenth century. Because of its location, between Champagne and Burgundy, it suffered devastation from various wars (Hundred Years' War; religious wars in the fourteenth century, Thirty Years' War in the seventeenth century). In the eighteenth century it was rebuilt again. In the nineteenth century, the abbey became a central women's home.
I know the abbey as a cultural center with many summer activities, for example, music concerts, exhibitions and historical visits. They also have a page on Facebook: Abbaye d'Auberive. Walking around the abbey and the gardens around it, you really feel the centuries of history.
Auberive is a twenty-minute drive from our village of Chaugey. We also sometimes cycle a "round of Auberive," a hilly bike ride of about an hour and a half to two hours.