Description
Former Cistercian abbey founded in 1131 at Denezé sous le Lude.
This former Cistercian abbey stands on an isolated site, on the edge of the forest and on the banks of a stream that allowed the creation of a pond and a mill. Some of the original buildings still stand, and the choir of the conventual church houses two very fine 14th-century recumbent figures. A chapel in Plantagenet Gothic style also stands nearby. It was intended to display for the veneration of pilgrims a relic of the True Cross with its double crossbeam, which is the origin of the Cross of Lorraine. During the Renaissance, but especially in 1735, the east and south buildings lost their austerity and were remodelled in keeping with modern tastes.
The chapels, the courtyard of the former cloister and the gardens are the subject of guided tours during the Heritage Days.
Groups by appointment.
