Fontgombault Abbey

The Abbey of Notre-Dame de Fontgombault (Abbaye de Notre-Dame de Fontgombault) is a Benedictine monastery of the Solesmes Congregation located in Fontgombault in the département of Indre, in the province of Berry, France. It was built in the Romanesque architectural style.

In 1091, Pierre de l'Étoile founded a Benedictine monastery on the banks of the Creuse River, near the spring or "fount" of Gombaud. In the 12th and 13th centuries, the abbey experienced vigorous growth and established about twenty priories. In the 15th century, the abbots of Fontgombault had numerous ponds dug, as was also done at the abbeys of Saint-Cyran and Méobecq, thus contributing to fish husbandry in the Brenne region of the Berry province. The abbey was sacked and laid waste by the Calvinists in 1569. It was not restored until the end of the 17th century, when Dom Andrieu accomplished the task. In 1741, the Benedictine community, reduced to five members, was replaced by a community of Lazarists, who established a seminary and used it as a center for missions in the region.

The buildings were partly destroyed during the French Revolution, when the monastery was nationalised and sold off. It was eventually bought back for religious uses in 1849 by the Trappists, who re-established it as a viable community by redeveloping its agriculture and setting up a kirsch distillery.

In 1905, the Trappists were expelled from France under the Association Laws and the monastery was secularised and sold a second time. The purchaser was Louis Bonjean, who set up a button factory in the premises. At his death in 1914, the buildings were put to use as a military hospital for wounded soldiers of the Belgian army, which it remained until 1918. The expelled Trappists went on to form the Monastery of Our Lady of Jordan, Oregon in the United States.

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