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T H E M A
Provencal cistercian abbeys
Sénanque, Silvacane,
Le Thoronet.
900 years of history 1098-1998
The
Cîteaux Order celebrates its nine hundredth anniversary in
1998. The original abbey in Burgundy was founded in 1098 by Robert
de Molesme. His aim was to recover the ideal of Saint Benoît
de Nursie's Rule. Poverty, isolation, uniformity, work and prayer
were the main characteristics of the « white monks ».
Such obligations were described in the « carta caritatis »
written by the third abbot Etienne Harding. In Provence the architecture
of the three « sisters » -Sénanque, Silvacane
and Le Thoronet- reflects this austerity. In 1153, during Saint
Bernard time, there were 343 abbeys all around Europe and 694 in
1300. The three Provençal abbeys appeared during the XIIth
century.
The
abbey of Sénanque, close to Gordes, is a good example of
Cistercian
expansion. It has a very simple architecture
with no statues, no coloured stained-glass windows, no paintings
and no wonderful church tower, so that nothing would disturb the
prayers. After its golden age during the XIIIth century, the abbey
declined. The Vaudois insurrection in 1544 was terrible. However
curious it may seem, the Revolution was a chance for the abbey of
Senanque. Sold as a national property, it was preserved and well
kept. In 1854, an ecclesiastic bought the abbey. And in 1989, the
monks came back definitively. The original monument has been well
preserved except the converts' area which was rebuilt during the
XVIIIth century. The monastery is constituted of a church, a cloister,
a dormitory and conventual buildings. The nave of the church with
no transerve arches has five bays. The semicircular apse is pierced
with three windows symbolising the Trinity. The tomb of a Venasque
lord is located next to a sculpted 
wheel with
ten rays. In the cloister, galleries have sculpted consoles. Decoration
on the capitals - leaf-work, flowers, rope and palm-leaf moulding
and entrelacing- is very simple. All around the cloister are located
the conventual buildings : chapter house, warming room, refectory
and laybrother's range. Close to the warming room is the dormitory.
Further south, the
two other abbeys, state property, have been deserted for a long
time. The particularity of Silvacane is due to its foundation during
the XIth century by monks of Saint Victor of Marseilles. The settlement
surrounded by reeds, « sylvi cana », was attached to
the Cîteaux
Order. Then, in 1147, it received a donation from Guillaume de la
Roque and Raymond des Baux. However, the protection of the lords
of Provence did not prevent a violent conflict with Montmajour's
abbey in 1289. The lord of Aubignan's pillaging and the severe frost
of 1364 were signs of the decline. This period ended in 1443 with
the annexion to the chapter of the Saint-Sauveur's cathedrale of
Aix. Parish church of La Roque d'Anthéron the following century,
it suffered damages during the Wars of Religion. Abandoned since
the Revolution, the state bought it in 1949 and has restored it
since then.
Between Lorgues and Le Luc Var is located the third
« sister », the Thoronet abbey built up during the XIIth
century. As Senanque, the church of roman provencal style has no
portal but two lateral doors. And the wall outside 
has an enfeus
or « depository » for the dead of the village, a rare
charasteristic in this region. Church, cloister and conventual buildings
generate the sensation that it is an exceptional place as well as
a feeling of universal harmony.
In the last two abbeys you will
see photographs of Bogdan Konopka, Anne Favret, Patrick Manez. At
the Thoronet you will hear the 25th of Septembre, Jean-Paul Poletti
and the Polyphonies of Sartène inspired by franciscan songs.
The day after, a group named A Filetta will play. Then, on the 2d
of October, Keram, an Armenian group will perform. And on the 3rd
of October, Stephan Micus will be playing traditional musics.
Emmanuel Boutinard - June 1998
- Translated by D.Prouteau
Photo E.Boutinard
Abbaye
de Sénanque, Gordes, tel. 04 90 72 05 72
Abbaye de Silvacane,
La Roque d'Anthéron, tel. 04 42 50 41 69
Abbaye du Thoronet,
Le Thoronet, tel. 04 94 60 43 90
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© Conception Réalisation Emmanuel BOUTINARD 2000