Moissac Abbey, France. Abbaye Saint-Pierre de Moissac.

The Cloisters, Moissac Abbey.

Photo: December 1877.

Photographer:

Séraphin-Médéric Mieusement (1840–1905).

This file is licensed under the

Licence Ouverte (License text, English Licence text).

(Wikimedia Commons)

The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia,
unless stated otherwise.

Moissac Abbey was a Benedictine and Cluniac Monastery in Moissac, Tarn-et-Garonne, in South-West France. A number of its Mediæval buildings survive, including the Abbey Church, which has a famous and important Romanesque sculpture around the entrance.

According to legend, Moissac Abbey was Founded by the Frankish King, Clovis,[1] in person the day after a victory over the Visigoths, in 506 A.D. The legend states that Clovis had made a vow to erect a Monastery with 1,000 Monks (in memory of a thousand of his warriors who died in battle) if he triumphed over the Visigoths, who had ruled the area for the previous Century as Federati of The Roman Empire. He threw his javelin from the top of the hill to mark the spot where the “Abbey of a thousand Monks” was to be built. Unfortunately, the javelin landed in the middle of a swamp.

Cloisters of Moissac Abbey,

Tarn-et-Garonne, Occitanie, France.

Photo: 10 June 2015.

Source: Own work.

Author: Benh LIEU SONG

(Wikimedia Commons)

Moissac Abbey Church, France.

Abbaye Saint-Pierre de Moissac.

Available on YouTube at

YOU TUBE

Historical records, however, indicate that it was Founded by Saint Didier, Bishop of Cahors, in the 7th-Century A.D.

The establishment of the Monastery was difficult because of raids by Moors from the South and the West and Norsemen from the North. The Abbey was sacked by the Arabs of al-Andalus twice around 732 A.D. and was looted in the 9th-Century A.D. by Norman pirates and in the 10th-Century by Hungarians.

The 11th-Century was a dramatic time for the Abbey. In 1030, the roof collapsed from lack of maintenance, and, in 1042, there was a serious fire. Durand de Bredons, Bishop of Toulouse, appointed the Abbot of Cluny, Odilon de Mercœur, to bring in a sweeping reform to counter the laxity of the Monks in 1047.[2]

A new Church building was added in 1063, along with significant restoration works. Pope Urban II visited in 1097 and Consecrated The High Altar and issued a Papal Bull, dated 7 May 1097, restoring forty Churches to the Abbey;[3] he also ordered the construction of the Cloister, completed in 1100.[4]

The Cloisters,

Moissac Abbey.

Photo: 22 February 2014.

Source: Own work.

Author: Julien de Marchi

(Wikimedia Commons)

The 11th- and 12th-Centuries were the first Golden Age, as Moissac Abbey was affiliated to the Abbey of Cluny and accepted The Cluniac Reforms, under the guidance of Durand de Bredons, both the Abbot of Moissac and the Bishop of Toulouse.

Papal support, its location on the Pilgrim Road, the restoration of the buildings, and the Reforms of de Bredon, made the Abbey one of the most powerful in France. In the 12th-Century, the Abbot of Moissac was second in seniority, within the Cluniac Hierarchy, to the Abbot of Cluny.[5][6]

During this era, the Abbey was led by major Abbots, Dom Hunaud de Gavarret and Dom Ansquitil, who had the Doorway and Tympanum built.[1] In the 13th-Century, Raymond de Montpezat, followed by Bertrand de Montaigut, Abbots and builders, ruled the Abbey. Aymeric de Peyrac, writing his Chronicle in the 15th-Century in the Château of Saint-Nicolas-de-la-Grave, describes these times.

Illuminated manuscripts, produced in the Monastery's Scriptorium, were taken to Paris by Jean-Baptiste Colbert in the 17th-Century[1] and are now in the Bibliothèque Nationale.[7]

English: Flying Buttresses of Moissac Abbey.

Français: Vue raprochée sur les contreforts de la façade sud. Moissac, Tarn-et-Garonne, France.

Photo: 18 August 2010.

Source: Own work.

Author: Jpbazard Jean-Pierre Bazard

(Wikimedia Commons)

The 15th-Century ushered in a new Golden Age, under the rule of Abbots Pierre and Antoine de Caraman, whose building programme included, in particular, the Gothic part of the Abbey Church.

The 1626 secularisation of the Abbey caused the Benedictine Monks to leave the Cloister, which had been a centre of Benedictine life for nearly 1,000 years. They were replaced by Augustinian Canons, under Commendatory Abbots, including well-known Cardinals such as Mazarin and de Brienne.

In 1793, The French Revolution put an end to Monastic life in Moissac. The Abbey Church of Saint Pierre is relatively intact and is still an active Church,[8] but the outlying buildings have suffered considerably.

In the middle of the 19th-Century, the laying of a Railway Track threatened the Cloister, but it was saved (though the Refectory was demolished to facilitate the Railway Cutting) and listed as a Historic Monument. Since 1998, the Church and Cloisters have had international protection as part of a World Heritage Site, “Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France”.[9]

English: The Great Portal,

Moissac Abbey Church.

Français : Porche de Moissac (82).

Photo: 9 June 2012.

Source: Own work.

Author: GO69

(Wikimedia Commons)

Architectural features of interest include the Church’s South-West Portico, a Crenellated structure with sculpture that is a major masterpiece of Romanesque Art. This reflected an expansion of image-carving, both in scope and size, and extended the use of sculpture from the Sanctuary to the Public Exterior.[10]

The Tympanum depicts The Apocalypse of the Book of Revelation. Supporting the Tympanum, a Trumeau features a statue of the Prophet Isaiah, an outstanding example of Romanesque sculpture, comparable to the work at Santo Domingo de Silos. The Cloisters also feature Romanesque sculpture.