The Abbey at Landevennec

The Abbey at Landevennec was founded in the 5C by St Guénolé was a Benedictine House in the 8C, only to be attacked and sacked by the Vikings in 913. The Abbey was repressed in the 1793 during the French Revolution and eventually used as a source of stone – a quarry effectively. In 1950 the site was bought by the Benedictine community at Kerbénat and a new monastery built.

The Abbeys (ruins and new buildings) overlook a bend in the Aulne River in a quiet and beautiful setting.

The view from the Abbey to the River Aulne

Carvings on pillars in Landevennec Abbey

Excavations have uncovered the remains of the 9C Abbey underneath and alongside the later buildings.

The remains of 9C Abbey buildings overlooking the river

The original Cloisters underneath the later Cloisters

There is a small museum amongst the ruins with interesting artifacts – books, carvings, and statues. The books are extraordinary, with the Apostles represented as figures with animal heads. A small herbal garden is quite new, I think, because it didn’t really catch my attention and there are no photographs.