The Abbey of Sainte-Marie-des-Dames was the first Benedictine abbey for women in Saintes in Charente-Maritime

Charente-Maritime

Charente-Maritime is a department on the west coast of France named after the Charente River.- History :Previously a part of Saintonge, Charente-Inférieure was one of the 83 original departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...

 in 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 1047 by Geoffrey II, Count of Anjou. One of its abbesses was Agnès de Barbezieux (1134-1174), whose relative, Eleanor of Aquitaine

Eleanor of Aquitaine

Eleanor of Aquitaine was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Western Europe during the High Middle Ages. As well as being Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right, she was queen consort of France and of England...

, was a generous donor to the abbey.

Madame de Montespan was educated here.

It is located next to the town's Arch of Germanicus

Arch of Germanicus

The Arch of Germanicus is an ancient Roman triumphal arch in Saintes, Charente-Maritime in France. It was built in 18 or 19 by a rich citizen of the town , C. Julius Rufus, and dedicated to the emperor Tiberius and his adoptive sons Drusus Caesar and Germanicus...

 and was classified a monument historique

Monument historique

A monument historique is a National Heritage Site of France. It also refers to a state procedure in France by which national heritage protection is extended to a building or a specific part of a building, a collection of buildings, or gardens, bridges, and other structures, because of their...

in 1948.