Fontaine-les-Blanches monastery, Cistercian abbey in Autrèche, France.
Fontaine-les-Blanches is a Cistercian abbey in Autrèche featuring buildings from different periods, including a 16th-century north portal and a 17th-century abbatial residence. The site also contains several service buildings and a square pavilion with three stacked dungeons connected by hatches, illustrating medieval construction methods.
The site began with two hermits, Geoffroi l'hermite and Geoffroi Bullon, who established an initial settlement in 1125. This settlement developed into an official abbey by 1134 with a permanent monastic community.
The abbatial residence displays a 13th-century room on its ground floor adorned with surviving fresco fragments from the 14th century, revealing the artistic techniques used in monastic spaces. These wall paintings show how the monks decorated their living quarters with religious and decorative imagery.
The site is best explored on foot, with different buildings and the pavilion with dungeons each requiring time to view properly. It helps to check beforehand whether the site is open to the public and under what conditions.
The original wooden stalls dating from 1480 were scattered among various regional churches following the French Revolution. This reflects how church property was dispersed during that tumultuous period.
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