Abbeys monasteries and convents Ireland

Majestic ruins of an abbey founded in 1253 by Felim O'Conor, King of Connacht (left on the left of the entrance). In medieval times, Roscommon was a place of pilgrimage because the city would have held a piece of the Real Cross, and this abbey represented one of the most important Dominican centers in Ireland.

Abbey founded in 1225 by Dominican monks, his official name is Abbey of The Most Holy Trinity, but she took the nickname Black Abbey, the black abbey, because of the color of his monks' dress. After the monasteries were dissolved by Henry VIII of England (between 1538 and 1541), Black Abbey was turned into a court. Left abandoned after the passage of Cromwell in 1650, it was restored in the nineteenth century. The interest of the architecture is limited, apart from a superb arched ceiling of shining wood and two beautiful stained glass windows.

Mellifont Abbey's old-fashioned austerity is not particularly palpable when entering the first Cistercian abbey founded in Ireland: we are so far away from the Cistercian morals of Saint Bernard and Saint Malachy - founders of the abbey - in the heart of this vallon surrounded by birds' songs, miles away from the rumors of the world.

In 1142 Saint Malachy founded Mellifont Abbey with the help of French monks sent by Saint Bernard, abbot of the Cistercian Monastery of Clairvaux. Several other Cistercian abbeys were then established in Ireland. It is difficult today to imagine the grandeur and splendor of Mellifont Abbey whose architecture inspired the continent's abbeys. There are four parts of the "washbasin" (tower of the thirteenth century where monks can toiled) and most of the capitular room whose arcades, invaded by vegetation, spread a beautiful and mysterious light green glow. In front of the washbasin, five arches of the cloistered courtyard recall the monacal demoralization. But these architectural remains cannot transcribe the influence of the monastery until the fifteenth century. The abbey was abandoned when monasteries were dissolved by Henry VIII. It was closed in 1539.

Today, the Abbey has transformed some of its rooms into guest rooms, and operates through its farm and garden (Mellifont Abbey Gardens), both of which are visited.

Along a river, the mass ruins of the Franciscan monastery of Quin are well preserved, including the square tower. If one considers the important area of the church and the thickness of its walls, this abbey appears to have more served as a fortress than a place of worship: It was built on the foundations of a strong castle at the beginning of the th century. Despite many centuries of persecution, monks lived here until the 1820 th century, the last of them, Father Hogan, was buried in.

Tea-room on site. The path slowly slides like to open on a valley. But the descent is lined with a long green carpet, where hundreds of sheep graze and bleat. In the distance, surrounded by a rempart of trees, the lavishly austère ruins of Tintern Abbey, Cistercian Abbey founded around 1200 and christened the name of the Town of Tintern in Wales, are profile. Open-sky arcade, ringed flower of iron, gouffre gouffre of the nave, tower that makes its arm mutilated towards the sky…

Cistercian monastery founded in 1210, one of the largest in Ireland. The central tower and adjacent buildings were added in the th century. Next to the abbey is the castle of Dunbrody and its labyrinth (adult 4 €, child 2 €).

This abbey was founded in the th century by King Cathal O'Conor. It is the only abbey in Ireland founded by a king and is still active.

In the very advanced ruins of the abbey and in the middle of the graves, two altars still carry enigmatic sculptures. On the first, one can see a pietà surrounded by a woman (Marie-Madeleine?) and a man raising the forearm, palms facing us (receiving or showing the stigma).

On the other altar, a series of characters, on the left, perhaps three Christ King. One of them, the open cape on the wound of the right flank (or the Three Mages and Christ King). .

Along the Lough Conn, in a picturesque landscape, you will find the ruins of this Augustinian abbey built in the twelfth century on the site of a church of the century.

9 km from Ballina, on the road to Killala. If the quest for the ruins comes to an obsession, the abbey of Moyne is open to you. To access it, it is necessary to cross the courtyard of a farm and then a field. After a slalom between the cows, we admire the situation at the seaside of this important abbey of the th century, built by the Franciscan with a gray and austere stone…

6,5 km from Ballina, on the road to Killala. On the edge of the Killala Bay estuary, the beautiful subtropical ruins of this th century Franciscan monastery have a few curiosities. In addition to its perfect conservation, the stylish porch is an elegant design. Inside the church, we will notice two angels to the instruments of Passion and a curious monk angel that seems to ring a bell, pulling on a rope that is no other than the tip of a arcade.