Montbard Things to Do

4 more images

The church furnishings are few but are noteworthy. It should be remembered that there would have been a choir screen walling off the worship area (no longer present). By far the most impressive element is the end of the 13C statue of the Virgin and Child as realistic as one could desire. Nearby is a 12C tomb slab in the floor. On the apse wall is a 13C carved stone retable looking like an antique sarcophagus. It is damaged but finely done. And there is more...

3 more images

The interior has eight bays covered by broken arches rather than rounded Romanesque ones. The arches are supported on columns with minimally decorated capitals. Light enters the church only through the east and west end windows. The aisles have barrel vaulting. The chancel is flat; some of the original glazed paving is still present here.

4 more images

The Iron Foundry was always a money maker. The ore came from nearby. Although originally it lived under a severe Rule, the corruption of Commendatory Abbots brought changes. Initially there was a dovecoat (colombier or pigeon house) which was an emblem landownership, hence the right to raise pigeons. But if one looks further theere are the kennels attached to the dovecoat and the side-gate posts each displaying a statue of a hunting dog (certainly not monkish pursuits). Then there is the emblematic shield on the entrance gate displaying two fat trout (besides, the trout pond could not feed 300 monks!). Finally situated in the center of the grounds is a fine Abbatial Residence of the 18C. These were not in line with St. Bernard's teachings.

2 more images

The Abbey of Fontenay is an essentially intact monastery. It is also a rare example of a severe Cistercian institution. Its church was consecrated in 1147 and the Abbey was one of the first daughter houses of Citeaux led by St. Bernard's uncle. The severity of line makes it all the more attractive. It is situated 6 km beyond Montbard. The church is the most prominent structure in the Abbey, more like a large barn with an unpaved floor, looking longer than its 217 feet. The facade is decorated by 7 rounded windows and two buttresses. The doorway has undecorated recessed arches and columns.

4 more images

It is said that the name Fontenay is derived froma word for fountains. As one leaves the forge building and heads for the gate house which is the entry, on the left is a cascade pouring into a large pool. The source of the cascade is the mill-run which powered the forge. The pool is filled with fish, said to be trout. In olden times this was a source of fish for the monastery. As the gate house (entry) is approached a modest fountain graces the green. We saw a larger non-functional one in the cloister. The water for all of these is derived from an entry stream conduit at the rear of the monastery behind the herb gardens.

4 more images

The Cistercians believed in the sanctity of work and they developed and here practiced a useful trade in metal working. The forge building is almost as long as the church. It stands to the South of the monastic complex next to a channeled water-run, from a diverted stream, that circles the compound and at other points provides water for the several fountains (from which the abbey name may derive). The forge building is also vaulted but is not as polished an affair. There are no mouldings on the thick ribs which connect to a central line of five thick cylindrical piers. The flooring consists of large rectanguar stone slabs. Near one end is a high wooden platform accessed by ladder. This was the upper level of the water-powered drop-hammer which produced thin sheets of steel and other metals. Also on exhibit are a few ancient tools: a giant bellows, a large whetstone and various supports and smaller tools. The forge was functional until the monks were dispersed by the Revolution. It subsequently became a paper mill and then fell into decay. In 1906 the entire property was bought by a financier from Lyon and he and his family continue to restore Fontenay. The first thing they did was remove all vestiges of the paper mill.

2 more images

One emerges into the monastery grounds once more. Ahead is a long factory building that is visited last. To the right attached to the Scriptorium, is the prison. Up on a rise near the monastery back wall near the herb garden, is a cottage (not visited) which was the Infirmary. The outer wall of the prison is not intact and it reveals itself to have a stark interior with an admonitory inscription (I think) on its inner wall. These buildings are isolated from the general confines.

3 more images

The same vaulting is to be seen in the scriptorium, where the ribs are received centrally by a row of five columns. The scriptorium is in line with and connected to the chapter house to the north and to the warming-room (chauffoir) to its east. There are two fireplaces in the chauffoir, the only ones in the Abbey except for those in the cooking area. They were only used for warming of hands by the writers and for softening of parchment or greases to make shoes more limber. Reconsider the vaulting and columns. Note how they are simpler than the Chapter House. The ribs are unadorned, they have no central decoration and they are received on sturdy thick columns with no capitals.