Again, found me pictures in my vault not in my blog yikes ! This is a wonderful monument and needs to be seen fully, say a must to visit me think, I have written two other posts on it and worth it, a marvel of the meaning of off the beaten paths places we enjoyed, We went to Plougastel-Daoulas for many occasions such as even boys birthdays, and sightseeing, However, unknown to us at the time, there is another town next to it and with only the name of Daoulas with a historical abbey, so we took off there. Therefore, here is new text and older new to the blog pictures on the Abbey of Daoulas .Hope you enjoy it as I.
Daoulas is a town in the department of Finistere no 29, in my lovely Bretagne region, known mainly for the Notre-Dame de Daoulas abbey. The town is 143 km from my house but 21 km from Brest and 12 km from Plougastel-Daoulas, It’s a small town packing a lot of history and architecture that is worth going in ; worth the detour, me think.
Founded in the 12C by the regular canons of the order of Saint-Augustin, is the only monastery of the order preserved in Brittany for the Romanesque period , The Abbey of Daoulas overlooks the small town of Daoulas It still preserves today beautiful testimonies of its initial splendor: a Romanesque cloister, remains of community buildings from the 13C, a fountain and a 16C oratory. Sold during the French revolution, transformed into a bourgeois residence in the 19C and then occupied by a religious congregation and a school after the wars, the site tells, through its transformations, and its great history. It has exceptional gardens, including the medicinal herb garden, bringing together species representative of the traditional pharmacopoeias of the five continents, to enhance the visit.
In the 12-13C, the Abbey of Daoulas experienced a period of great prosperity with the multiplication of donations, made on the one hand by the lords of Léon, on the other hand by the bishops of Quimper. In 1692, the king decided to unite the abbey with the royal seminary of naval chaplains in Brest, directed by the Jesuits. During the French revolution the monks had to leave the monastery. In 1790, the church became parochial and in 1792 the buildings were sold. In the 1800s several stones of the cloister were scattered and some of the buildings destroyed. From 1880 the restoration began with five families of different owners followed one another until 1947 when the abbey was bought by the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of Blois who set up a school there and then a rest home in 1960. In 1984 they sold these buildings, which the General Council of Finistère acquired.
The Abbey Church was located to the south of the monastic complex which was organized around the cloister. The choir of the abbey had to communicate with the building closing the cloister to the east. The east wing, dated to the period of construction of the church, perhaps even slightly earlier as the facade of the chapter house would suggest, included from north to south: the sacristy, the chapter and the chartrier. In return with the East wing developed the North wing whose existence dates back to the middle of the 13C. This building housed the kitchens to the east and the refectory to the west. A central hearth functioning as a brazier was unearthed during the excavations and would therefore correspond to part of the kitchens fitted out from the 12C. Subsequently the west wing was remodeled, probably in the 14C, it contained the dwelling of the abbot as well as guest rooms. The excavations have brought to light artisanal structures such as hearths, glass furnace, bell mould, but also water pits, wells, basins and cisterns which were articulated around the washbasin located in the North-West corner of the cloister. Excavation of the galleries revealed the existence of numerous burials in the cloister. The latter therefore served as the location for the construction site of the 12C abbey before being backfilled, but it was also used as a place of burial.
Since September 2022, the Abbey of Daoulas has been unveiling its brand new tour route. This circuit, made up of about fifteen panels, offers an interpretation device as well as directional and informative signage on the built heritage and the gardens. In an approach of accessibility and in order to improve the comfort of visit, the course now offers keys to reading the history of the place and the garden of medicinal plants. The Corten steel furniture takes up a motif inspired by the basin of the cloister.
The city of Daoulas on the abbey: https://daoulas.bzh/fr/rb/854128/labbaye-de-daoulas-et-les-monuments-classes
The Landerneau-Daoulas tourist office on the abbey: https://www.tourisme-landerneau-daoulas.fr/sinspirer/art-et-heritage/daoulas/decouvrir-abbaye-daoulas-jardins/
The Bretagne region tourist office on the abbey: https://www.brittanytourism.com/offers/abbaye-de-daoulas-daoulas-en-2016044/
There you go folks, you are now arm to come see this jewel of lovely , and of course quant small Daoulas , small but packing a lot of history/architecture in it like the Abbey of Daoulas. Again, hope you enjoy the post as I .
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 