The abbey | ©Binche / CC-BY-SADid you know this Cistercian abbey owns its name from fons frigida, which means "cold water"? Monks who came here in order to found the monastery in 1093, probably found a fresh stream...
Well, monks raised new buildings, they transformed rooms into a dormitory, according to the Cistercian rules. Donations came from everywhere, even from Spain!
Well, king of Aragon visited Fontfroide himself: he gave plots of lands near Tarragona, so monks could come and found a monastery.
During the French Revolution, the estate was parcelled out and the buildings were transformed into a barn.
In 1858, Cistercian monks settled in and Prosper Mérimée helped by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc started to restore the abbey.
Thanks to those two men and to the new owner in 1908, Gustave Fayet, we can visit Fontfroide: the chapter room, the cloister and the church, the cellar and several buildings...