Abbatial church of Saint-Antoine-l'Abbaye, Gothic abbey church in Saint-Antoine-l'Abbaye, France

The Abbatial church of Saint-Antoine-l'Abbaye is a Gothic building of light tan stone, entered through three pointed-arch portals with layered carved archivolts and dark wooden doors. Above the central portal sits a large traceried window, with small rose windows over the side doors. The lower chevet is semicircular, the apse above it five-sided, and a narrow transept was planned with two towers, of which only the northern one was begun.

Construction of the Gothic church began in 1280 and lasted until the end of the 15th century. Work resumed in 1337 after a break of more than 47 years, funded by a bequest from Ponce Mitte, which allowed the chevet to be finished around 1342 and explains the change of style from the triumphal arch. The abbey church was listed as a historical monument in 1840 by Prosper Mérimée.

The relics of Saint Anthony the Great, brought to La Motte-aux-Bois in the 11th century, drew pilgrims along the road to Santiago de Compostela. The second chapel on the north side, founded around 1400 by Abbot Gérenton de Châteauneuf, keeps wall paintings of Saint Christopher and a Crucifixion where Saint Michael weighs souls, the scales tipping toward the bad deeds.

The church stands in the village of Saint-Antoine-l'Abbaye, on the route to Santiago de Compostela. Enter through the three portals of the western facade; inside, the side chapels form a passage pierced through their walls. The nave vaulting, begun in 1400, and the 87 stalls installed in 1630 are best seen in morning light.

The three west portals were finished in the mid-15th century, and their carved archivolts are closer in style to the portals of Saint-Maurice cathedral in Vienne than to the angels of the Champmol charterhouse. Sculptor Antoine Le Moiturier, from Avignon, worked here between 1461 and 1464, but stylistic analysis casts doubt on the old attribution of the portal sculptures to him.