Sacred Architecture
"Sacred buildings are, of all buildings, the ones which ought to show the greatest amount of grandeur, dignity and majesty...".
Denis Diderot
Under the heading "Architecture" in the Encyclopaedia, various illustrations deal with religious buildings - and in particular, using the example of the Panthemont Abbey in Paris, with plans of its different levels, the elevation of its façades, and a cut and profile of the Church.
Several Cistercian abbeys were set up in the Pays de Langres: Auberive, Belmont and Morimond.
At Belmont, the buildings of the second Cistercian women's abbey still remain, founded in 1126 by Etienne Harding, 3rd founding father of Cîteaux Abbey. Belmont was made a royal abbey in 1611, and underwent a programme of reconstruction that began in 1742. The abbatial chapel grew in the 19th Century to become a parish, and elements of the conventual building, and traces of the 18th-Century enclosure still remain. The Guesthouse and its orchard are open to the public during the summer months. During cultural events, visitors can soak up the serene atmosphere of the place, and from the orchard, take in the balance of the abbey's architecture, which has modestly remained faithful to its Benedictine and Cistercian foundations, even during its mid 18th-Century reconstruction.
Remnants of another Cistercian site can be found in the commune of Fresnoy-en-Bassigny - the glorious Morimond Abbey, 4th daughter abbey of Cîteaux Abbey (12th Century). Saint Ursula's chapel, the remnants of the gatehouse, the library (18th Century) and of the Church (with its 12th-Century column capitals), and the ponds too all bear witness to the great moments of this site, which was destroyed in the Revolution. By taking a pleasant pastoral walk along the site's discovery trail, and visiting the exhibition found inside the chapel, visitors will be able to rediscover the spiritual climate that drove this small corner of Bassigny for 7 centuries...
