Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert Abbey, also called Gellone Abbey, is a Benedictine abbey in the village of Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, in the Hérault department of southern France. William of Gellone founded it in 804.
William was an Aquitanian aristocrat of the Carolingian era, who lived from about 742 to 812. In the Occitan language he is known as Guilhelm, and the village takes its name from him.
France listed the abbey as a historic monument in 1840. In 1998 it became part of the World Heritage Site called the Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France, which recognizes the roads that pilgrims once followed toward Spain. The abbey remains one of the best-known sights of the Hérault valley.
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