Explore Senanque Abbey in Beautiful Lavender Fields France

The Sénanque Abbey of Notre-Dame de is a picturesque Cistercian Abbey tucked away in a deep valley below the village of Gordes in the département of the Vaucluse in Provence. Founded in 1148 by Bishop Cavaillon and Ramon Berenguer II, count of Barcelona and Provence, the Romanesque abbey was laid out following the lines of Citeaux Abbey, the mother house of the Cistercians. The exterior architecture is embellished only by simple leaf bas relief sculptures. The rule of the Abbey was austere for the monks with the only heated room in the monastery being the scriptorium, where the Sénanque monks created the precious books that partially financed the Abbey. 

Decline of Sénanque

By the 14th century Sénanque had four mills, seven granges and possessed great estates in Provence. From this date though the Abbey went into decline and in the late 1500’s it was ransacked by the Huguenots during the Wars of Religion. By the French Revolution in 1789 Sénanque Abbey only had one monk left and like many Abbeys in France it was closed and its lands nationalised. 

Sénanque Abbey Today

In 1854 the Abbey was repurchased by Cistercian monks who started to grow Lavender and tend bees to make honey. Today Sénanque  is one of the most picturesque and evocative Romanesque buildings in France. The Abbey is approached in the summer through blooming Lavender fields. The Lavender grows right up to the Abbey creating one of the iconic views of Provence. 

Links To More Photos

See More photos of Senanque at MuseoPics Sénanque Abbey Photo gallery

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