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Abbey of Saint-Martin-du-Canigou

Abbey of Saint-Martin-du-Canigou

Photo: LeZibou · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons

Location
Casteil, France
Client / Owner
Guifred II, Count of Cerdanya
Year
Completed 1020
Access
Tickets required
Typology
Spiritual

The Abbey of Saint-Martin-du-Canigou stands on Canigó mountain in the Pyrenees, near Casteil in southern France. Guifred II, Count of Cerdanya, built it in atonement for his son's murder, and Benedictine monks settled it. The abbey was built from 1005 to 1009, and the upper church followed from 1010 to 1020. The two churches are in the First Romanesque style, the lower dedicated to St. Mary and the upper to St. Martin, both with three naves and barrel vaults.

Guifred died at the monastery in 1050, having become a monk there 15 years earlier. The Catalan earthquake of 1428 damaged it. It was secularized in 1782 and partly quarried during the Reign of Terror. A restoration begun in 1902 was completed in 1932.

A mortuary roll of 1051 is used by scholars today. The Catholic Community of the Beatitudes occupies the abbey.

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