Solesmes Abbey, Benedictine abbey in Solesmes, France

Solesmes Abbey is a Benedictine monastery above the Sarthe valley, built of light grey stone with steep slate roofs and tall brick chimneys. Its church has a long, narrow nave from the 11th–15th centuries and a monk's choir added by Dom Prosper Guéranger in 1865. A square tower with a pyramidal roof and turrets rises beside a single-arched stone bridge.

Founded in 1010 by Geoffrey, Lord of Sablé, as a priory dependent on Saint-Pierre de la Couture in Le Mans, Solesmes became a conventual priory and was sacked during the Hundred Years' War. In 1791 the monks were expelled and the archives burned in 1794. Prosper Guéranger restored monastic life in 1833, and the community was elevated to an abbey in 1837. Expelled again in 1880, 1882, 1883 and exiled to the Isle of Wight from 1901 to 1922, the monks returned and remain today.

The abbey is known for maintaining Gregorian chant traditions and their role in preserving liturgical music for the Church. Visitors can hear these practices during daily services, which shape the rhythm of life within the monastery.

The abbey stands in the bourg of Solesmes, overlooking the Sarthe valley, and the monastic buildings are reached from the town side. The church is long and narrow, divided into the Nave, built between the 11th and 15th centuries, and the Monk's Choir, added by Dom Prosper Guéranger in 1865. Visitors enter the parts open to the public; the community still lives and sings here, so silence is kept in the church.

The monastery houses historical choir books with handwritten musical notation and special recordings of chant traditions. These collections show how the community has developed and documented the musical tradition over centuries.