Abbaye de Saint-Thibéry, Benedictine abbey in Saint-Thibéry, France

Abbaye de Saint-Thibéry is a former Benedictine abbey whose surviving abbey church was built in the 14th and 15th centuries, with a polygonal apse supported outside by buttresses. A two-story southern building erected in 1706–1710 faces a large courtyard, and a 1712 wing links it to the sacristy and choir. The tall square bell tower, built between 1520 and 1530, stands separate to the west.

Founded at the end of the 8th century at the crossing of the Via Domitia and the Via Mercadale, the abbey grew around the tombs of the martyrs Tibère, Modeste and Florence, which pilgrims bound for Santiago de Compostela came to honour. Councils were held here in 907, 1050 and 1389. Louis XI granted royal protection in 1479, and Louis XIII gave the title of royal abbey in 1639, the year the community joined the Congregation of Saint-Maur.

The abbey church keeps the marble high altar with two angels, the only remnant of a 17th-century retable, and a late 18th-century altarpiece by François Laucel of Narbonne in the Virgin's chapel. In 1779 the Pénitents blancs of Saint-Thibéry gave two paintings, the Last Supper and the Supper at Simon the Pharisee, restored in 2008. Forty choir stalls and wood panelling were installed in the 18th century.

The monastic buildings are not a single visitable monument: the southern two-storey building was divided among private owners in the 19th century and houses were built in the great courtyard. The Hérault Méditerranée agglomeration has been buying back and restoring the former monastic buildings, so expect partial views and works rather than a set tour route.

The abbey church was meant to be extended west as far as the great bell tower of 1520-1530, but the link was never completed. A monumental doorway once leaned against that tower; it was demolished in the early 19th century, though the right jamb can still be made out.