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 Le...