Mazan Abbey
Encyclopedia
Mazan-l'Abbaye
Mazan-l'Abbaye is a commune in the Ardèche department in southern France.-Population:-References:*...
in the département of the Ardèche
Ardèche
Ardèche is a department in south-central France named after the Ardèche River.- History :The area has been inhabited by humans at least since the Upper Paleolithic, as attested by the famous cave paintings at Chauvet Pont d'Arc. The plateau of the Ardeche River has extensive standing stones ,...
in the region of Rhône-Alpes
Rhône-Alpes
Rhône-Alpes is one of the 27 regions of France, located on the eastern border of the country, towards the south. The region was named after the Rhône River and the Alps mountain range. Its capital, Lyon, is the second-largest metropolitan area in France after Paris...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
It was founded in 1120 from Bonnevaux Abbey
Bonnevaux Abbey (Dauphiné)
Bonnevaux Abbey is a former Cistercian monastery in Lieudieu near Villeneuve-de-Marc in the Isère department of France, in the region of the Dauphiné, 25 kilometres east of Vienne and about 6 kilometres south-east of Saint-Jean-de-Bournay on the northern edge of the Forêt de Bonnevaux.- History...
, incorporating an already existing community of canons
Canon (priest)
A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....
, and was the mother house of Le Thoronet Abbey
Le Thoronet Abbey
Le Thoronet Abbey is a former Cistercian abbey built in the late twelfth and early thirteenth century, now restored as a museum. It is sited between the towns of Draguignan and Brignoles in the Var Department of Provence, in southeast France...
(1136), Silvanès Abbey (1136), Bonneval Abbey
Bonneval Abbey (Aveyron)
Bonneval Abbey was founded as a monastery of Cistercian monks, which is located in Le Cayrol, in the Department of Aveyron, in the south of France. It is now inhabited by Trappistine nuns.-History:...
(1147) and Sénanque Abbey
Sénanque Abbey
Sénanque Abbey is a Cistercian abbey near the village of Gordes in the département of the Vaucluse in Provence, France.-First foundation:...
(1148). It was plundered during the Hundred Years' War
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War was a series of separate wars waged from 1337 to 1453 by the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet, also known as the House of Anjou, for the French throne, which had become vacant upon the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings...
and again by the Huguenots, and revived and rebuilt in the 18th century.
It was suppressed in the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, and the remains were systematically quarried for stone during the 19th and 20th centuries, especially to build the smaller modern church now adjacent to the site, as the original abbey church, which had been saved from destruction for the use of the parish, was considered too big and cold.
What little remains is now carefully preserved, and is notable for the great natural beauty of its situation.