Breuil-Benoît Abbey

The Cistercian Abbey Church of the Middle Ages... and of the miraculous return.
Having gone on crusade, he feared he would never return... William of Marcilly, a valiant Christian, fell into the hands of the infidel Saracen.
Faith and cunning allowed him to regain his freedom. He then offered a grand abbey church to the monastery whose foundation his father had helped establish.
This church, the Crusader died before it was completed and solemnly consecrated in 1224. And you will not see its transept, demolished following the auction of the estate during the Revolution. Yet it is indeed the church of the unexpected return.

An impressive Gothic structure, it is above all the only one that remained standing, when all the other abbey churches, masterpieces of medieval Norman Cistercian architecture, have fallen. Is this not the greatest miracle of Le Breuil? A simple yet sublime building, magnificently preserved from the ravages of time.

Nearby, with its charming triangular pediment and graceful brick and stone quoins, the abbot's residence possesses the elegance of a Louis XIII château. Even if its history seems far removed from the monastic ideal, you must admit it's quite pleasing to the eye.