Monastère des Antonins et moulin de Pondaurat, Monastery and watermill in Pondaurat, France
The Monastère des Antonins et moulin de Pondaurat is a Romanesque monastery and watermill in Pondaurat, in the Gironde department of southwestern France. The stone buildings feature thick walls, small windows, and plain rounded arches, with the mill sitting beside a small stream called the Bassanne.
The Antonin monks founded a fortified commandery here at the end of the 13th century on the Limousin route of the Camino de Santiago, with the church, monastery, mill and presbytery beside the Bassanne toll bridge. It later passed to the Order of Malta, and at the Revolution the commandery and mill were sold as national property while the church stayed with the commune. The monastery was listed on 12 July 1990 and the mill on 30 November 1990.
The monastery and mill stand in the centre of Pondaurat, on either side of the church of Saint-Antoine, on the east side of the D12 road towards Savignac. The monastic buildings are now a wine estate and the mill a private home, so they are seen from the road and public paths rather than visited inside.
The mill was sold as a national asset during the Revolution, while the church stayed in state and then municipal hands. The monastery buildings now house a wine-growing estate and the mill is a private residence, so the former monastic complex is not open as a museum.
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