Abbaye de Montpeyroux, Cistercian abbey in Puy-Guillaume, France.
Abbaye de Montpeyroux is a former Cistercian abbey in Puy-Guillaume, founded in 1126. The surviving church nave has five bays and two side aisles, built of granite with pointed rib vaults and carved capitals. The west facade still stands, with three portals and a rose window above five openings. The convent buildings date mainly from the 18th century.
The abbey was founded in 1126 and received major donations in the 1200s from regional nobles who supported its growth. A fire in the 1600s caused severe damage to the buildings and led to incomplete repairs that never finished.
The name Montpeyroux, Latin Mons Petrosus (stony mount), refers to the site on the right bank of the Crédogne. The abbey was mother house of Bellaigue, which asked to join the Cistercian order in 1137. A Pietà from the church is kept in the church of Puy-Guillaume, and the town hall is studying a conversion into a cultural venue.
The abbey stands on the right bank of the Crédogne, about 70 metres from the river, at 314 metres altitude in Puy-Guillaume, 12 km north of Thiers. The church facade still stands, with three portals and five bays beneath a rose window; the chevet and transept are gone. The site is inscribed as a monument historique since 7 November 2000, and the town hall is studying a rehabilitation as a cultural venue.
The abbey shows unusually well how a devastating fire can interrupt a large project, since repairs from the 1600s remained incomplete and were never resumed later. This gap between different building phases is still visible today in the structures.
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