Photo : Manfred Heyde / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Abbaye de Noirlac
Noirlac abbey is a Cistercian abbey in the Cher, built in the second third of the twelfth century. Founded in 1136, thanks to a donation from Ebbe VI de Charenton, by a small group of monks from Clairvaux abbey (Burgundy), it was then called Maison-Dieu and took the name Noirlac (because of the pond bordering it) only in 1290. It is an emblematic monastery of the Cistercian order. A symbol of the ideal spread by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux in the twelfth century in more than 700 Cistercian abbeys in Europe, it is one of the best-preserved monastic ensembles in France, thanks to restorations begun by the Cher General Council. Modern stained glass there was made by the French artist Jean-Pierre Raynaud. Noirlac abbey is a member of the Charter of Cistercian Abbeys and Sites of Europe.
