Abbaye de Feniers, Romanesque abbey ruins in Condat, France.
Abbaye de Feniers is a ruined Cistercian monastery in Condat, Cantal. The remains include parts of the abbot's house, the south cloister gallery, and the church with four transept chapels from the late 12th and early 13th centuries. A tall broken wall with two pointed openings and ivy stands among lower crumbling masses.
Founded in 1173 by Béraud de Mercœur, who asked Aimar Adhémar, abbot of Aiguebelle, to send monks; the new abbey soon supplied monks to Le Bouschet and Bellaigue. From 1328 it prospered under the protection of King Philip VI. Commendatory abbots neglected it from the 16th century, though Claude du Mont-Dore reformed it in 1522–1524 with backing from the Parlement de Paris. Suppressed in 1790, it was rebuilt in 1686 but fires in 1857 and 1872 left the ruins later used as a quarry.
The abbey was also called Val-Honnête, "the honest valley", after the deep valley of the Santoire where it stands. Its monks founded the daughter house of Le Bouschet-Vauluisant. A chapel built in 1830 now holds a 15th-century statue of the Virgin Mary.
The ruins are open to visitors and generally accessible for exploring the structures from outside. It is best visited during daylight hours to fully appreciate the stone details and the arrangement of the buildings.
The abbey was suppressed at the end of 1790, during the French Revolution; its last abbot was M. de Gaylus de Lévy and its last prior D. de Bigol. A chapel built in 1830, after the monastic community had gone, houses a 15th-century statue of the Virgin Mary.
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