ABBAYE LA CLARTE-DIEU

Founded in 1150 by a group of Cistercian monks from Berdoues, it underwent a strong expansion that lasted nearly three centuries. The Cistercians were masters in the art of cultivating the land. They were the first to generalize animal-drawn ploughs and studied the fertilization of the soil with natural fertilizers. At its peak, the Cistercian abbey, known as the Clarté Dieu, was at the head of nearly 4,000 hectares, about three times the current surface area of the commune, and many properties such as mills, bread ovens, with related feudal rights. The papal decision of 1503 to transform abbey churches into parish churches and that of the King of France to designate from now on the abbots, known as commendataires, marked the decline of the Clarity of God; both in terms of the attack on the integrity of the architecture, and in terms of the good financial functioning of the community. Having become a private property during the revolution, after having been sold at auction, the property of the monks became the property of the clergy following an inheritance. Then in 1989, the Abbey was bought by the municipality, which developed the park and opened it to the public. It has since been restored and houses the municipal media library "Marie de France". Since the acquisition of the convent by the Town Hall, major rehabilitation work has been successively carried out (consolidation of the buttresses, restoration of the façades, interior work, fitting out of the media library).