Abbaye Royale de Fontevraud

The Abbaye royale de Fontevraud, founded around 1101 by Robert of Arbrissel in the Anjou region, is one of the largest surviving monastic complexes in Europe and has been a classified French historical monument since 1840. Unusually for its era, the abbey was a double monastery housing both monks and nuns under the authority of an abbess, a structure that gave it remarkable autonomy for the time. Its greatest historical distinction is as the dynastic necropolis of the Plantagenet kings: the polychrome recumbent effigies of Henry II of England, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and Richard the Lionheart — carved in the early 13th century — still lie in the abbey church and rank among the finest medieval funerary sculptures in France. From 1804 to 1963 the complex served as a state prison, leaving traces in the fabric of the buildings that are still visible. Today visitors move through the Romanesque abbey church, Gothic cloister, and restored conventual buildings, which also host a contemporary cultural center.