Mondaye Abbey, Classical abbey in Juaye-Mondaye, France
Mondaye Abbey is a Premonstratensian monastery in Juaye-Mondaye, nine kilometres south of Bayeux. Its classical buildings, rebuilt from 1706 under prior-architect Eustache Restout, form three sections: a taller central block with a steep pyramidal roof and lantern above an arched entry, flanked by two-storey wings with dormer roofs. A second range has arched openings below and small rectangular windows above, with a domed structure to the right.
Turstin, a priest, settled as a hermit on a wooded hill in the Bessin in the mid-12th century. After his death in 1200, the bishop of Bayeux placed the community under the Rule of St Augustine, and Turstin's brother-in-law Raoul de Percy gave the land. In 1210 the house joined the Premonstratensian order under La Lucerne's protection. A church and conventual buildings replaced the hermitage at the end of the 13th century.
The abbey church holds paintings by Jean II Restout, nephew of the architect Eustache Restout, who decorated the church in the 18th century. The name Mondaye comes from the Latin mons Dei, "mountain of God", recalling the wooded hill where the hermit Turstin settled.
The abbey stands in the Bessin countryside at Juaye-Mondaye, nine kilometres south of Bayeux. The church, monastic building, entrance pavilion, farm, pressoir, tithe barn and cloister are listed as a monument historique. The canons still live and pray here, so parts of the complex are closed to visitors; the church interior was still under restoration from 2007.
The abbey walls still bear marks from the fighting around it in June 1944, when Allied landings subjected the site to days of bombing. Repairs to the most badly damaged part of the church began only in 2007. The church, monastic building, pressoir, pavilion, enclosure, grange, grange aux dîmes, cloister and interior decor are listed together as a monument historique.
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