Cloister

The former Cistercian monastery was founded in 1118. With its church, cloister, refectory, sleeping quarters, bakery and ironworks, it is an excellent illustration of the ideal of self-sufficiency as practiced by the earliest communities of Cistercian monks.

The photo shows a view of the cloister, which also belongs to the Romanesque style. Here the impact rests exclusively on the use of few forms and a single material.

View the ground plan of the whole site of Fontenay Abbey.