Journées européennes du Patrimoine

 

This weekend it was the European Days of Patrimony, les Journées européennes du Patrimoine. Once every year, during one weekend in September, all the state-owned and even some of the private châteaux, manoirs and museums open their doors for the public. It's a great opportunity to visit some of the most famous cultural sites free of charge and to get more than a glimpse of some privately-owned buildings that otherwise wouldn't be accessible to the common people. And the French do have their choice when it comes to beautiful old houses, monuments and churches...

We spent our Saturday with a few of our French friends exploring the medieval abbey of La Lucerne-d'Outremer. The abbey that was first erected around 1143 has gone through several architectural phases and changes, having been transformed from an Augustinian monastery into a spinning factory and a sawmill during the Revolution and then finally becoming a "Monument historique" in 1928. The restoration works started back in the early 1960's and are still on-going, but, as you can see, the abbey has already regained a lot of its former glory.

  

The dovecote of the abbey.

A perfect place for a moment of meditation.

At the end of the day, my friends who also form an a cappella group called Veni Vidi Canto offered the visitors an hour-long concert in the main chapel of the abbey. Nothing better than a bit of music to finish off such a beautiful day!