Photo: Zairon · CC BY-SA 4.0 · editedAbbaye de Fontenay
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Jjpetite · CC BY-SA 4.0 · edited
Why go
- The world’s oldest surviving Cistercian abbey.
- A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981.
- A landscaped park designated a Remarkable Garden in 2004.
Opening hours
Today10:00 – 18:00Show all
Don't miss
- Madonna of FontenayLook for the larger-than-life scale of this stone figure.Abbey church13th century
- Tomb effigies of Guillaume de Mello and Marie de ChâteauvillainPaired stone portraits of Guillaume de Mello and his wife, Marie de Châteauvillain.Abbey church14th century
- Monks’ dormitoryLook up at the timber roof, shaped like an inverted ship’s hull and installed after a fire.Monks’ dormitory15th century
- Medieval sculpturesSculptures from Fontenay and other abbeys, mainly in Burgundy; admission is included in the abbey ticket.Lapidary museum beside the library
Know before you go
- Open daily, 10:00–18:00.
Interesting facts6
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Seven windows on the church’s west interior are spaced according to a musical ratio of three quarters.
Abbey of Fontenay - Wikipedia -
The chapter house hosted council meetings, court sessions, discussion and study.
Abtei Fontenay - Wikipedia -
Small bells beside the church door called the lay brothers together.
Abbey of Fontenay - Wikipedia -
The monks’ warming room was the monastery’s only permanently heated room and had two large fireplaces.
Abtei Fontenay - Wikipedia -
The church has a compacted-earth floor and no pews, preserving a 12th-century appearance.
Abtei Fontenay - Wikipedia -
A 13th-century building now housing the bookshop and lapidary museum once served as a chapel for visitors barred from the monastery enclosure.
Abbaye de Fontenay - Wikipedia
Shorts
History
By its completion around 1200, the complex could accommodate as many as 300 monks. The community produced valuable manuscripts, developed medicine and healing, and practised metalworking and ironworking during the 12th and 13th centuries. Its flourishing period continued until the 16th century, after which the community shrank.
- 1118Bernard of Clairvaux founded Fontenay as a daughter house of Clairvaux Abbey.
- 1130The monks moved to the abbey’s present site.
- 1147Pope Eugenius III consecrated the church.
- 1269Fontenay became a royal abbey, ten years after Louis IX exempted it from taxes.
- 1359English forces pillaged the abbey during the Hundred Years’ War.
Show all
- 1745The monks demolished the refectory because they could no longer afford its upkeep; the chapter house was also reduced.
- 1791The last nine monks left, and the abbey became a paper mill using the monastery’s hydraulic installations.
- 1905–1911The Aynard family restored the abbey’s medieval appearance, rebuilding the cloister’s left wing stone by stone.
How to get there
- CarThe abbey is about six kilometres from Montbard and is reached via the D 32.
Sources: Abbey of Fontenay - Wikipedia · Abbaye de Fontenay - World Heritage · Abbaye de Fontenay - Gift Shop and Museum · Abbaye de Fontenay - History · Abtei Fontenay - Wikipedia · Abbaye de Fontenay - Wikipedia · checked 7 Oct 2026
- Website
- abbayedefontenay.com/
- Phone
- +33 3 80 92 15 00
Questions and answers
What does the visitor route at Abbaye de Fontenay cover?
Most convent buildings, the gardens and the stone museum, finishing at the bookshop.
What were the cloister galleries at Abbaye de Fontenay used for?
Reading, work and prayer, as well as processions and ritual foot washing.
What can families find in the Abbaye de Fontenay bookshop?
Books and toys for children of all ages.
Does shopping at Abbaye de Fontenay help preserve the abbey?
The bookshop’s proceeds go entirely towards further restoration.
What local products are sold at Abbaye de Fontenay?
Burgundy wine, monastic teas, jams and sweets.
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