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5 vues panoramiques

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Size and meditation

With his/her sisters, Silvacane and Sénanque, the Abbey of Thoronet is one of the three wonders cistercians of Provence.

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It is in 1136 that a group of monks leaves the abbey of Mazan in Ardeche to base a monastery on the grounds of Tourtour.

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Approximately fifteen years later, as it was often the case for the cistercians Abbeys, the monks give up their provisional buildings, and are transported to a score of kilometers of their site first, close to Lorgues, in a place timbered between the elbow of a small river and a source.

Work of construction of the abbey Our-Lady-of-Thoronet begins in 1160, is completed essentially in 1175, and is prolonged until 1190.

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At the beginning of XIIIème century, the monastery shelters a score of monks and a few tens of brothers convers.

Less than two centuries later, the decline of the abbey is already started. In 1660, the prior gives a report on "the great need which the buildings of this abbey have to be repaired being in sorry state". In 1699, one announces cracks and collapses of the roofs, broken doors and dilapidated windows…

In 1790, seven old monks still reside at it. The disappearance of the abbey threatens when, it discovering, Prosper Mérimée saves it by announcing it to Revoil, architect of the historic buildings. Since 1873, this last attempts to restore it. This restoration is taken again after 1907 by its Formigé successor, and since then continues