ABBAYE ROYALE SAINT-VINCENT

This abbey is a place of memory that has been brilliantly restored to accommodate the Bellevue high school, in keeping with the architecture of the Maurist Benedictines. From the medieval era, the abbey retains a porch housing a portal decorated with two fleurs-de-lis and the abbey's coat of arms: the grill of Saint Laurent and the whip of Saint Vincent. Behind this porch stands a small manor house dating from the late Middle Ages, as well as the abbey's conventual buildings, rebuilt between the ^17th and ^18th centuries by the Mauristes in a refined, unadorned style. The south wing of the abbey houses a beautiful hall, the Salle Piliers, with Baroque fireplaces on either side. Once you've climbed the Trinity staircase, three bas-reliefs appear on the central pillar between each floor. They are carved vertically, with God and abbatial and pontifical symbols, Christ the child carrying his cross and a dove representing the Holy Spirit, depicted from bottom to top. The large refectory houses two paintings by Joseph François Parrocel: La Pêche miraculeuse and La Multiplication des pains. The guest room evokes the Enlightenment, and a magnificent grand staircase recalls ^18th-century Maurist architecture.

In 1954, part of the abbey was refurbished as a boarding school for young girls, and the upper floors were converted into dormitories. In the 1990's, the Region completely restructured the former abbey to accommodate 17 additional classrooms for the Lycée Bellevue, kitchens, two refectories and a modern boarding school, while the western part was entirely reserved for teaching. The abbey is occasionally open to the public for exhibitions, shows or Heritage Days, but remains closed to the public most of the time.