Domaine de Découverte de la Vallée d'Aulps
SAINT-JEAN-D'AULPS
Description
The Aulps Abbey was founded at the end of the 11th century in the heart of the Chablais pre-Alps, at an altitude of 800m. The monks who lived there were encouraged to join the Cistercian Order in 1136. Before long, the abbey became one of the most powerful monasteries in medieval Savoy. The church was largely destroyed in 1823 and until 1998 the grounds were used for farming.
The Aulps Abbey's 3-hectare estate houses the church facade and ruins, the cellars, gardens, porch and above all the renovated monastic farm, which opened in 2007 and houses the Visitors' Discovery Centre. This centre - unique in France - gives a vivid idea of the daily routine of monks living in a mountain abbey in the Middle Ages.
The abbey's gardens are also a focus for visitors, with a flourishing botanical garden (herbularius) and a vegetable patch (hortus).