Beaulieu-en-Rouergue Abbey, in Tarn-et-Garonne, a showcase for contemporary art

Like all Cistercian abbeys, the abbey of Beaulieu-en-Rouergue (Tarn-et-Garonne) is set back from the roads, in the narrow valley of the Seye, at the foot of the causse. Hermits settled there around the middle of the ^12th century. Construction of the abbey began in the following century: the southern Gothic-style church, with a long, high single nave, whose choir is surmounted by a tower and closed by a polygonal apse, the cloister and the adjoining convent buildings. During the Wars of Religion, Protestant troops destroyed the cloister. The abbey was restored and enlarged in the ^18th century, but during the French Revolution, it was sold as national property.

Other setbacks followed, not the least of which was the disastrous project of the architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc (1814-1879) to dismantle the church and rebuild it in the village of Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val, a dozen kilometers away. Despite the opposition of the writer (and archaeologist) Prosper Mérimée (1803-1870), the operation began in 1844 with the roof and the framework of the nave, but was interrupted due to lack of funds. The buildings were then used only for agriculture and fell into disrepair.

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