Abbaye Saint-Michel de Tonnerre, Benedictine abbey in Tonnerre, France

Abbaye Saint-Michel de Tonnerre is a Benedictine monastery situated on Mont Voûtois with stone buildings and surrounding gardens. The site contains spaces for worship, communal living, and craft production that define monastic daily routines.

Benedictine monks first settled in the Volut valley near a spring, then built a chapel. The community moved to Mont Voûtois in the 5th or early 6th century. Before the 9th century Bishop Thibaut of Langres found the monastery ruined; in 980 Count Milon of Tonnerre and Bishop Widric of Langres had it restored. On 13 February 1790 the Constituent Assembly suppressed monastic vows, and on 26 April 1791 the buildings, enclosure and farm were sold to citizen Cany of Paris for 30,100 livres.

The abbey's name comes from Saint Michael, and the engraved prospectus labels the complex's parts with letters A to Y. The relics of Saint Thierry were moved from the abbey to the Notre-Dame church on 11 November 1790. The site is no longer standing, so nothing of its monastic life remains in place.

The abbey no longer stands, so there is nothing to enter or book: the buildings, enclosure and farm were sold as national property on 26 April 1791. Visitors instead walk the site in Tonnerre and the nearby churches, including Notre-Dame, which received the relics of Saint Thierry on 11 November 1790. The engraved prospectus of the monastic complex survives as a record of its layout.

The monastery benefits from a nearby water source that has been essential since its founding. This resource shaped the location choice and enabled the monks' agricultural work for centuries.