Visiting the Abbaye aux Dames in Saintes, France (Charente-Maritime) with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
When we arrived in Saintes at the Abbaye aux Dames (The Women’s Abbey), the sun had come out after a long rain. The Abbey’s ticket counter was in a vast bookstore with chairs to allow you to peruse potential purchases. This particular bookstore had architecture books, history books, biographies, and art history books. I bought several books on architecture and women in the Middle Ages.
In the
abbey’s visitor’s brochure, I read that the Abbaye aux Dames was established in
1047 by Geoffrey Martel, Count of Anjou.
The mission of the abbey was to educate young girls of the French
nobility.
In the
eighteenth century, the Abbaye aux Dames was reconstructed in stone by Jacques
Guërinet due to damage from the Hundred Years War (1337 – 1453) between the
French and English and the Wars of Religion (1562 – 1598) between French
Protestant Huguenots and French Catholics.
During the
French Revolution (1789 – 1799), the buildings of Abbaye aux Dames were taken
over and used as a prison and later the complex was used as a military barracks
according to the visitor’s guide. The
City of Saintes bought the abbey in 1924.
The abbey became a religious establishment again in 1939.
What has
paid for restorations to the Abbey aux Dames was the establishment of a
Festival of Ancient Music at the site.
In 1988, French president François Mitterand inaugurated the cultural
center.
While we
visited, rehearsal for a concert was taking place in the Abbey’s church. Music escorted us through a tour of a modern
art exhibit in several of the Abbey’s rooms.
Today the
Abbey aux Dames also educates young people through musical instruction and its
hosting of a regional youth orchestra.
I wish youth orchestras were a worldwide phenomenon along with youth
choruses.
I thought as
I left that the Abbaye aux Dames was making maximum if not exponential use of
its space to attract audience of all ages, who like both ancient music and
modern art. The work of the Abbaye aux
Dames is another great example of cultural tourism and arts in the life of the French people.
The active market in town draws people from all around, too.
By Ruth Paget, Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
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