Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Visiting the Abbey:
Like visitors centuries ago, you'll enter through the abbey's
gatehouse.
The main difference: Anyone with a ticket gets in, and there's no watchdog
barking angrily at you (through the small hole on the right). Pick up the English self-
guided tour flier with your ticket. Your visit follows the route described here (generally
clockwise). Arrowskeep youoncourse, andsigns tell youwhich sections ofthe abbey are
private (as its owners still live here).
The
abbey church
is pure Romanesque and built to St. Bernard's specs: Latin cross
plan, no fancy stained glass, unadorned columns, nothing to distract from prayer. The lone
statue is the 13th-century
Virgin of Fontenay,
a reminder that the church was dedicated to
Mary. Enjoy the ethereal light. Calm your mind and listen carefully to hear the brothers
chanting.
Stairs lead from the front of the church to a vast 16th-century, oak-beamed
dormit-
ory
where the monksslept—together,fully dressed, onthin mats. Monastic life waspretty
simple:prayer,reading,work,sevenservicesaday,onemealinthewinter,twointhesum-
mer. Daily rations: a loaf of bread and a quarter-liter of wine.
Back down the stairs, enter the
cloister,
beautiful in its starkness. This was the heart
of the community, where monks read, exercised, washed, did small projects—and, I ima-
gine, gave each other those silly haircuts. The shallow alcove (next to the church door)
once stored prayer books; notice the slots for shelves. Next to that, the chapter room was
where the abbot led discussions and community business was discussed. The adjacent
monks' hall was a general-purpose room, likely busy with monks hunched over tables
copyingsacredtexts(amajorworkofabbeys).Thedininghall,orrefectory,alsofacedthe
cloister (closed to the public).
Across the garden stands the huge abbey
forge.
In the 13th century, the monks at
Fontenay ran what many consider Europe's first metalworking plant. Iron ore was melted
downinovenswithbigbellows.Toolsweremadeandsoldforaprofit.Thehydraulicham-
mer, which became the basis of industrial manufacturing of iron throughout Europe, was
first used here. Leaving the building, walk left around the back to see the stream, which
was diverted to power the wheels that operated the forge. Water was vital to abbey life.
The pond—originally practical, rather than decorative—was a fish farm (some whopper
descendants still swim here). Leave through the gift shop, which was the public chapel in
the days when visitors were not allowed inside the abbey grounds.
