Ename Abbey, Benedictine monastery in Ename, Belgium.

Ename Abbey is a former Benedictine monastery in Oudenaarde now accessible as an archaeological park with remains from different building periods. The ruins sit near the Scheldt River and reveal how a medieval monastic complex was spatially organized.

Adele of France, wife of Baldwin V, Count of Flanders, founded the Benedictine Abbey of Our Lady in 1063 to demilitarise the Scheldt border area. It was installed in the former Ottonian palace and around 1070 was refounded with a dedication to Saint Salvator. In 1139 a larger Romanesque church replaced the Ottonian one; around 1165 the buildings were rebuilt in Gothic style. The abbey was sold and dismantled in 1795 during the French Revolutionary Wars.

The abbey's name survives in Ename Abbey Beer, brewed by Brewery Roman, a museum sponsor. In 1596, after the monks returned, they erected a cross and a pillory on the village's rectangular square to reassert control over local life. Abbot Antoon de Loose's property register from the 1650s records details of daily life that historians still use.

The archaeological park has pathways through the ruins with information boards and occasional interactive exhibits about monastic daily life and work. Comfortable shoes are helpful since the ground is uneven with varying elevation levels.

Excavations at the site uncovered pottery fragments from Roman times, showing the area was inhabited long before the monastery was founded. These older layers beneath the medieval ruins tell of different peoples who lived at this location.