Sainte-Marie d' Orbieu abbey in Lagrasse - Pays Corbieres- Minervois

The village of Lagrasse is the site of one of the largest benedicitine abbeys in the south of France, the Abbaye Sainte - Marie d' Orbieu, founded at the beginning of the Carolingian period.  The monastery
experienced great prosperity and exerted considerable  intellectual influence between the 11 C and 13 C, as well as in the 17 C, with the arrival of the benedicitines of Saint- Maur.  For all these reasons, Lagrassehas a wealth of architectural features to be admired by visitors.  From the Romanaque period, the  abbey has retained the remains of a white marble doorway sculpted by the workshop  of the Master of Cabestany, as well as three apsidioles in the southern arm of the church.  The majority of the medieval buildings were commissioned by Abbot Auger de Gogenx (1279 - 1309), including the rebuilding of the church, the monk's
dormitory and the Chapelle Saint- Barthelemy.  The enormous bell tower was the work of a 16 C abbot, Philippe de Levis, while the main cloisters and the new Abbots' Palace were built in the 18 C.  the medieval bridge over the Orbieu leads to the heart of the village, well worth a visit for its streets lined with medieval houses, the parish church of Saint-Michel and the "Maison du Patrimoine de Lagrasse"

Abbaye Sainte - Marie d' Orbieu - 4 rive gauche - BP 4
11220 Lagrasse

Tel:   00 33 4 68 43 15 99
Fax:  00 33 4 68 49 00 76

Email:   abbayedelagrasse@wanadoo.fr
Web:    www.abbayedelagrasse.com