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The cloister |
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The cloister vestiges |
The
abbey-church
was shut in southwards and eastwards by the monastery which accomodated the Benedictine
monks' considerable community.
The cloister erected by Bégon III below the south transept, probably one of the most
beautiful in southern France, disappeared for the most part for lack of maintenance at the
beginning of the XIXth century and its materials were used as a quarry for the inhabitants
of the village.
Prosper Mérimée
arrived a bit late to rescue it.
Eastwards, only two small archways opened on the ancient chapter house were spared as well
as on the other side the six gemelled openings which put in contact both the western gallery
of the cloister and the monks' refectory. The recent works carried out by the Historical
Monuments Service ended in the restoration of the cloister's area. The digging up of some
paving fragments as well as the foundations of the low wall which holds the inner colonnade
enabled the restoration of three out of four galleries' layout. The place of the last one
is taken up by the modern buildings which shelter the
treasure.
Nowadays, the renovated paving and rebuilt low wall perfectly suggest the roman cloister's
layout. It shows itself to be hardly small (28m x 26m) in comparison with the cloister of
Moissac (39m x 37m) but the builders had to take into account the difficulties inherent in
the lack of space.
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The serpentine basin |
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The monastic great basin was rebuilt and restored from units dismantled when the cloister was demolished. Thanks to the original used stone, a dark-green serpentine, and to the beauty of both its layout and sculpted decorations, this basin unfortunately deprived of its central bowl represents a monument unique of its kind and well known in all monastic art. |
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Some capitals spared by time |
| The monument denotes an ambitious programme as far as the architecture and sculpture are concerned. About thirty capitals coming from the lost archways are showed wether in the ancient refectory at the entrance to Treasure, or in the lapidary museum in the basement of Doctor Fau's Museum. All of them can be easily identified thanks to the use of a light grey limestone from the Causse, a material that reappears nowhere else. On the bells and abucuses, by the side of animal themes or angels, a whole world of warriors, builder-monks, as well as acrobats and monkey leaders bring back to us the society of the beginning of the XIIth century. |
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Texts from Jean-Claude FAU
Editions of Beffroi - Regional Council of Aveyron Photographs from André KUMURDJIAN Translation from Valérie FABRE |
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