Abbey sights in Europe
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Lacock Abbey
Lacock Abbey was founded as an Augustinian nunnery in 1232 by Ela, Countess of Salisbury. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the abbey was sold to Sir William Sharington in 1539, who converted the nunnery into a home, demolished the church, built a tower and added a brewery. Highlights are the deeply atmospheric medieval rooms, while the stunning Gothic entrance hall is lined with bizarre terracotta figures; spot the scapegoat with a lump of sugar on its nose. Some of the original 13th-century structure is evident in the cloisters and there are traces of medieval wall paintings. The recently restored botanic garden is also worth a visit.
On Tuesdays year-round and…
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Tewkesbury Abbey
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Stift Millstatt
Apart from the lake itself, Millstatt’s main attraction is its Romanesque Benedictine abbey, founded in 1070. This pretty complex consists of the 11th-century abbey, a graveyard that invites a stroll, and foundation buildings south of the abbey, with lovely yards and arcades. If you walk downhill along Stiftsgasse from the abbey, you see on the left a 1000-year-old lime tree.
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Paisley Abbey
Paisley Abbey is well worth the short trip from Glasgow to see.
This majestic Gothic building was founded in 1163 by Walter Fitzalan, the first high steward of Scotland and ancestor of the Stuart dynasty. A monastery for Cluny monks, it was damaged by fire during the Wars of Independence in 1306 but rebuilt soon after. Most of the nave is 14th or 15th century. The building was mostly a ruin from the 16th century until the 19th-century restoration, completed in 1928. Apart from the magnificent perspective down the nave, points of interest include royal tombs, some excellent 19th- and 20th-century stained glass, including three windows by Edward Burne-Jones, and the…
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Kloster Lichtenthal
Lichtentaler Allee concludes at the Kloster Lichtenthal, a Cistercian abbey founded in 1245, with an abbey church where generations of the margraves of Baden lie buried.
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Cistercian Abbey
Founded in 1183 by Count Rudolph von Tübingen, the complex became a royal hunting retreat post-Reformation. A visit takes in the frescoed summer refectory, the Gothic abbey church and intricate star vaulting and half-timbered facades in the cloister.
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Abbaye aux Dames
The counterpoint of the Abbaye aux Hommes is the Abbaye aux Dames at the eastern end of rue des Chanoines. The complex includes the Église de la Trinité. Look for Matilda's tomb behind the main altar and for the striking pink stained-glass windows beyond. Free twice-daily tours take you through the interior in some detail, though you can snoop around yourself at other times outside of Mass.
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Holyrood Abbey
King David I founded the abbey here in the shadow of Salisbury Crags in 1128. It was probably named after a fragment of the True Cross (rood is an old Scots word for cross), said to have been brought to Scotland by his mother, St Margaret. Most of the surviving ruins date from the 12th and 13th centuries, although a doorway in the far southeastern corner has survived from the original Norman church.
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Stift Melk
Lying in the lee of its imposing monastery-fortress, <strong>Melk</strong> (35km from Krems) is home to one of the Danube’s most popular attractions, <strong>Stift Melk</strong>. This was once the residence of the Babenberg family. Benedictine monks transformed it into a monastery in 1089 and today its elegant rooms are complemented by a mineral collection in the museum.
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Abbaye aux Hommes
Caen's two Romanesque abbeys were founded in the mid-11th century by William the Conqueror and his wife, Matilda of Flanders, as part of a deal in which the Church pardoned these fifth cousins for having semi-incestuously married each other. With its magnificent and multiturreted Église St-Étienne, the Abbaye aux Hommes is near the western end of rue Écuyère. This was William's final resting place, though the original tomb was destroyed by a 16th-century Calvinist mob and, in 1793, by fevered Revolutionaries – a solitary thighbone is all that's left of Will's mortal remains. Today, the 18th-century convent buildings house the town hall, and tours of the abbey run at…
reviewed
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Abbaye du Mont St-Michel
The Mont's major attraction is the stunning architectural ensemble of the Abbaye du Mont St-Michel, towards which you'll be swept by a human tide ascending the Grande Rue and a steep stairway. From Monday to Saturday in July and August, there are illuminated nocturnes (night-time visits) with music from 7pm to 10pm.
Most rooms can be visited without a guide but it's worth taking the one-hour tour, included in the ticket price. The frequency of English tours ranges from twice a day (11am and 3pm) in the dead of winter to hourly in summer; the last leaves at least 1½ hours before closing time. Audioguides (one for €4.50, two for €6) are available in six languages. Don't…
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Augustiner Chorherrenstift
Rising like a vision above St Florian, this abbey dates at least to 819 and has been occupied by the canons regular, living under Augustinian rule, since 1071. Today its imposing yellow and white facade is overwhelmingly baroque.
You can only visit the abbey’s interior by guided tour, which takes in the resplendent apartments adorned with rich stuccowork and frescoes. They include 16 emperors’ rooms (once occupied by visiting popes and royalty) and a galleried library housing 150,000 volumes. The opulent Marble Hall pays homage to Prince Eugene of Savoy, a Frenchman who frequently led the Habsburg army to victory over the Turks. Prince Eugene’s Room contains an…
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