Montmajour Abbey

Montmajour is a former abbey in the French department of Bouches -du -Rhône, a few kilometers northeast of Arles.

History

Montmajour was built on a swamp surrounded by Hill, the. Of King Conrad III the peaceable things of Burgundy ( 937-993 ) had been designated as a public cemetery. The chapter of the church of St. Trophimus at Arles sold the site 949 to a nobleman who founded the Benedictine monastery of Saint- Pierre here. The construction of the first church was begun in 1016.

Due to the 1030 right obtained to grant indulgences, the " Pardon de Montmajour ", the small Saint-Pierre abbey became a much-visited pilgrimage site, the to used the revenue from the drain, to drain the surrounding marshes. She stretched thanks to a dense network of up to 54 priories then quickly Arles and its influence on the whole of Provence. In the 11th century it was the necropolis of the Counts of Provence.

The new building of the monastery was begun in 1703 under the direction of Pierre Mignard, could not be brought to an end. It was only prevented a fire in 1726 the completion, then the necklace affair of Cardinal and Archbishop of Strasbourg Louis de Rohan, who was Titualarabt Montmajour simultaneously. King Louis XVI. left the abbey close in 1786.

Multiple sales of the plant led to the decline, which was only stopped after the painter Jean -Jacques Réattu (1760-1833) had acquired the watchtower. 1872, the demolition was stopped, and a little later began the restoration.

Plant

The abbey consists of

  • The Hermitage ( 11th century ) with the Chapelle Saint- Pierre
  • The medieval monastery ( 12th century ) with the church of Notre -Dame ( 1140/50 ), the chapel of Sainte -Croix and the cloister, whose capitals were brought to the Musée de l' Arles antique
  • The watchtower " Tour de l' Abbé " ( 1369 ) and
  • The new, but never finished monastery from the 18th century.

Then there are the tombs of the Counts of Provence

  • Wilhelm II, † 1018, Count of Provence,
  • Godfrey I, † probably 1061/62, whose son, Count of Arles, Margrave of Provence

And the abbot Jean Ugolino de Saint -Remy, † 1430, which were embedded in the walls of the church.

Others

From Montmajour from was further north in the 10th century, in the montagnette between Tarascon and Avignon, the monastery of Saint- Michel -de- Frigolet founded after monks from Montmajour had to leave her mother monastery due to health reasons the swamps and moved to the much more pleasant environment were.

In the interiors of the former abbey photo exhibitions take place in the context of Rencontres d' Arles.

The building is eponymous for the in September 2013 in Amsterdam " rediscovered " painting sunset at Montmajour by Vincent van Gogh, on the ruins of the abbey is depicted in the background.

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