Saint-Martin-du-Canigou, Benedictine abbey in Casteil, France

Saint-Martin-du-Canigou Abbey stands at 1,055 metres on the western slopes of the Canigou massif above Casteil. Its rough brown and grey stone buildings, roofed in grey slate and reddish-orange tiles, step along a rocky ridge. A square tower with arched openings rises at the highest point, and a long arched gallery faces a terrace lower down. The abbey church has two superposed churches, the lower one almost buried and partly cut into the rock.

Guifred II, Count of Cerdanya, founded the Benedictine monastery; the first mention dates from 997, when construction probably began, and the church was consecrated on 10 November 1009 by Oliba, Bishop of Elne. Guifred died there in 1049. The 1428 Catalan earthquake damaged the buildings and truncated the bell tower; the abbey was secularized in 1782 and closed during the Terror, its stones reused as a quarry. The Bishop of Perpignan began restoration in 1902, completed by Dom Bernard de Chabannes between 1952 and 1983.

The abbey's name comes from Saint Martin, to whom the upper church is dedicated; the lower church is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and the bell-tower chapel to Saint Michael. From the Middle Ages, each new abbot received a mule on first entering the abbey, a duty called the droit de mule owed by parishes under the abbey; later replaced by forty Barcelona livres, reduced to five after the plague of 1434. Since 1988 the Community of the Beatitudes has ensured the divine office and welcomes visitors.

Access to the site requires advance booking for a guided tour, as independent visiting is not permitted. The path to reach the monastery involves climbing a mountain slope, so wear sturdy shoes and expect some physical effort.

The abbey keeps a rare arrangement: two churches stacked one above the other, the lower one almost buried and partly cut into the rock, its vaults rarely higher than 3 metres. The upper church of Saint-Martin, built around 1010–1020, required the lower columns to be encased in square piers to carry the extra weight.