Video: The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Abbaye de Fontenay

Guests who cruise aboard hotel barge  La Belle Epoque visit the exquisite UNESCO World Heritage Site of Abbaye de Fontenay. Founded by St-Bernard in 1119, it is described by UNESCO as being “an excellent illustration of the ideal of self-sufficiency as practiced by the earliest communities of Cistercian monks”.

Having been ravaged and abandoned during the French Revolution, and later serving time as a paper factory, the Abbey has been so carefully restored that it is now the most complete remaining medieval monastery in France. As a testimony to the monastery’s desire to be self-sufficient, the complex includes cloisters, dormitories, outbuildings, fish ponds, bakery, mill, forge and even a prison.