Church of La Bénisson-Dieu, Cistercian abbey in La Bénisson-Dieu, France

The Church of La Bénisson-Dieu is the surviving church of a Cistercian abbey founded in 1138. Its 51-metre fortified bell tower, added around 1500 under abbot Pierre de La Fin, rises beside a long nave with a steep roof of glazed polychrome tiles in the Burgundian manner. The church, missing its original transept, shows the transition from Romanesque to Gothic, with a Baroque Virgin Chapel added in the 17th century.

Alberic, a disciple of Bernard of Clairvaux, founded the abbey with twelve Cistercian monks on 29 September 1138 beside the Teyssonne. The first church, built at the end of the 12th century, marks the transition from Romanesque to Gothic. Around 1500 the abbey became a commendam and Pierre de La Fin added a fortified 51-metre bell tower and a spire above the choir. On 3 July 1612 it became a women's abbey under Françoise de Nérestang, who rebuilt it and added a Baroque chapel completed in 1651. During the Revolution the conventual buildings were sold and dismantled as a stone quarry; only the church survived and became the parish church.

The abbey's original name was Notre Dame de la Bénédiction de Dieu, later shortened to La Bénisson-Dieu. The village grew around it and took the same name. Inside, a carved wooden screen separates the nave from the south chapel dedicated to the Virgin, added in the 17th century by the Nérestang family.

The site is easily accessible from outside, allowing visitors to view the exterior architecture and tower from different angles. For access to the interior, check visiting hours beforehand as guided tours may only be available at specific times.

The chapel's vault shows the Assumption of Mary painted within a quadratura, an architectural trompe-l'œil in which she seems to break through the ceiling, arms open as mediator between heaven and earth. The lateral bays, now walled up, let the nuns pray to the Virgin out of sight.