A little history of Moissac abbey

The gorgeous Saint-Pierre abbey is a real Romanesque masterpiece! The monastery was founded in the 7th century. The legend says an apostle from Aquitaine, saint Amand, founded it.

Saint Ansbert raised the cloister and his successor finished the buildings at the end of the 7th century.

But in 732, Saracens invaded the area and demolished everything. In the 9th century, Normans and Hungarians plundered Moissac even though Pépin the Short and Louis the Debonaire restored it at the beginning of this century.

Then the abbey fell within the jurisdiction of Cluny order; the church was rebuilt in 1063.

In order to welcome all the monks, abbot Anquetil re-raised the cloister in 1100 and extended the buildings. But fires, Hundred Years War and natural disasters many times demolished the church and the new cloister.

Abbot Aymeric de Roquemaurel rebuilt the church in the middle of the 15th century.

In the 18th century, everything fell into ruin. The church and the cloister were spared during the French Revolution and were restored in the 19th century.

The real treasure here is the gorgeous cloister with its sculpted capitals. We also can see characters carved in the marble, representing saints and abbots of Moissac.