
L’abbaye de La Couronne, a historic monument, is an exceptional monumental ensemble for its architecture and history.
Tourist route around the Abbey via a free digital application: LegendR
The site belongs to two different owners: the dwelling, the main courtyard, the monastic buildings, the park and its surroundings to the Ciments Lafarge establishments, and the cloister and the abbey belong to the Department of Charente.
It was in the first half of the 12th century that the chaplain Lambert, also called "the blessed" (history has it that in his youth, he went hunting and killed a dragon that was ravaging the country) decided to gather a few priests to devote themselves to the regular life and founded the first abbey in the Romanesque style. Construction began in 1118. Work was carried out quickly and on March 12, 1122, the monks (of the regular order of Saint Augustine) moved in in the presence of Bishop Girard de Blay and the Count of Angoulême.
From its creation, the abbey was a great success: a new church was built at the end of the 12th century (choir and nave: 1171-1194; the completion of the work was slowed down by wars, famines, etc.): it was consecrated in 1201, in the presence of the Archbishop of Bordeaux. The convent buildings were also renewed at the end of the 12th and the beginning of the 13th century: cloisters, dormitory, refectory, infirmary, etc.
A surrounding wall surrounds the abbey. During the 13th century, the furnishings were enriched, the Saint-Nicolas chapel was built and the bell tower was erected. During the Hundred Years' War, the monks were dispersed and the bell tower collapsed (1450). At the end of the 15th century, the abbey was reborn: part of the collapsed church was rebuilt and a new abbey building was built (the work was completed after 1514).
The Wars of Religion affected the abbey again: it was looted in 1562, part of its furniture was burned. The conventual buildings were restored from 1571.
At the beginning of the 17th century, the abbey, which now had only eight monks, was united with the Jesuit order; it was then placed under the obedience of the congregation of Sainte-Geneviève in 1644. In the 18th century, a final campaign of works transformed the convent buildings. Abbot Louis de Bompar (1750-1773) carried out major works between 1756 and 1760, notably with the development of the main courtyard.
Sold as national property after the Revolution, the remains of the abbey church were used as a quarry until their classification as Historic Monuments in 1904. This protection was extended to the entire site in 1999.