Abbaye de Clairac, Benedictine abbey in Clairac, France.

The abbey of Clairac shows a long facade of red brick and pale stone: two rectangular windows with stone frames and brick arches sit above a sloping roof of curved tiles, and below it three brick arches on stone pillars open or are walled in, with a row of exposed stone blocks along the base. The town of Clairac grew around this monastery.

Local historians give two origins: a 1328 vidimus, now considered apocryphal, credits Pépin le Bref around 760, while a La Sauve-Majeure document names the priest Saint Avit. The first known abbot, Constance, appears in 1068. The abbey was ravaged by the Albigensians in the 13th century and partly destroyed during the Hundred Years' War; in 1604 Henri IV attached it to the chapter of Saint-Jean-de-Latran.

The abbey's name honours Saint Peter, though sources also give Saint Peter and Paul or Saint Peter in Chains. Its monks were temporal lords of Clairac, Laparade and Nicole and held five priories, including Marmande and Tombebœuf. The town of Clairac grew up around the monastery, which shaped the surrounding parishes.

The abbey stands in the heart of Clairac, in Lot-et-Garonne; the town grew up around it. The surviving brick and stone facade shows three arches on stone pillars, the left one open onto a dark passage, with two arched windows above under a tiled roof. The founding date and even the dedication remain uncertain in the sources.

The first known abbot, Constance, appears in the abbey's catalogue in 1068 and attended the Council of Toulouse in 1079 or 1080. In 1190 Abbot Arnaud accompanied Richard the Lionheart, his overlord, on the Third Crusade. Look for the stone base course and brick arches of the surviving facade.