Abbaye Sainte-Marie de Villelongue
Abbaye Sainte-Marie de Villelongue, Cistercian monastery ruins in Saint-Martin-le-Vieil, France
The stone structures of Villelongue Abbey include a church, chapter house, refectory, and cloister gallery with twin columns supporting fourteen arches.
Established in 1149 by twelve monks from Bonnefort-en-Comminges, the abbey relocated to Villelongue in 1170 and reached its peak with thirty ordained monks.
The cloister capitals display carved human heads, owls, cockerels, and winged griffons, departing from traditional Cistercian architectural restraint.
The abbey receives visitors throughout the year, with attendance numbers showing seasonal variations from 2,674 to 6,815 people between 2014 and 2019.
The medieval dovecote retains its original fourteenth-century outer walls and served as a semi-circular tower gateway to the monastery complex.
Location: Saint-Martin-le-Vieil
Inception: 1149
Architectural style: Romanesque architecture
Address: Villelongue, 11170 Saint-Martin-le-Vieil, France
Opening Hours: Monday-Tuesday 14:00-18:30; Wednesday-Sunday 14:00-18:00
Phone: +33468249038
Website: http://abbaye-de-villelongue.com
GPS coordinates: 43.30556,2.16694
Latest update: June 23, 2025 09:52
The region around Carcassonne features an area marked by medieval and Cathar history, with castles, abbeys, and old villages. The Cité of Carcassonne displays its city walls restored in the 19th century by Viollet-le-Duc, while the Canal du Midi has traversed the region for 240 kilometers since the 17th century. The castles of Quéribus and Peyrepertuse overlook the landscape from their rocky spurs at over 700 meters above sea level, serving as the last strongholds of the Cathar resistance in the 13th century. Villages like Minerve and Lagrasse showcase medieval architecture, with narrow streets, ancient bridges, and Benedictine abbeys. The region also includes the four Lastours castles aligned along a ridge, the Saint-Maurice Cathedral in Mirepoix with its 22-meter-wide Gothic nave, and natural sites like Lake Cavayère. These monuments and landscapes form a representative ensemble of the south of France’s historical and natural heritage, accessible from Carcassonne.
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