The Abbey Under the Curious Lake

Hautecombe Abbey, situated in Saint-Pierre-de-Curtille, Savoie, France, was a former Cistercian monastery, later a Benedictine monastery. For centuries, the Counts and Dukes of Savoy were buried at Hautecombe Abbey, attracting about 150,000 tourists annually. However, this lake-side abbey is no ordinary place.

Built in 1101, Hautecombe Abbey was founded by hermits from Aulps Abbey, near Lake Geneva. The abbey accepted the Cistercian Rule from Clairvaux.

Count Humbert III, known as ‘Blessed’, his wife Anne, and Archbishop Boniface of Savoy, Archbishop of Canterbury (1245–1270), were all interred at Hautecombe Abbey. Count Aymon, Count of Savoy financed the expansion of a burial chapel at Hautecombe from 1331 to 1342.

The abbey was restored and re-constructed in the 18th and 19th centuries, and secularized in 1792. It was then turned into a china-factory before being purchased by King Charles Felix of Sardinia in 1824. The church, 66 meters long with a transept 26 meters wide, was re-constructed by the Piedmontese architect Ernest Melano, adorned with 300 statues and many frescoes. Most of the tombs are reproductions of the medieval monuments.

In 1826, the Cistercians resettled the abbey from Turin, but the Italian monks soon left, and were replaced by others from Sénanque Abbey. However, they left in 1992 for Ganagobie Abbey, primarily to get away from the increasing tourist flow. The buildings are now administered by the Chemin Neuf Community.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons