THE ABBEY OF SAINT-GÉNIS DES FONTAINES
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Majestic Benedictine abbey built in 780 with a tower bell tower and featuring an abbey church and cloister.
Majestic ochre stone building standing out on the Albères mountain range, with its crenellated tower-shaped bell tower and the small tower in front, the Benedictine abbey of Saint-Génis-des-Fontaines was built in 780 by Sentimir.
The abbey church
. Dedicated to Saint Michael, it follows the plan of a Latin cross with very pronounced arms. When it was remodelled, or even rebuilt, in the 12th century, a particularly remarkable lintel was integrated into the façade around the doorway. Originally an altar, this world-famous lintel is a major work of 11th-century Romanesque sculpture. Finely carved in white Céret marble, it is the first dated Romanesque sculpture in stone (between 1019 and 1020).The cloister. This one was built at the end of the Catalan Romanesque age (end of the 13th century). Elegant, airy, it is almost a perfect square with 14 m sides. It is characterized by the polychromy of its marbles: the white of Céret, the pink of Villefranche and the black of Baixas as well as by the motifs of its capitals: local fauna and flora, and fantastic elements. The one we are visiting today has been partly reconstructed with its original elements that had been dispersed. It must be said that it has had some incredible adventures, to say the least. Only the four authentic pillars sold with the copy of the cloister to the city of Philadelphia have never been returned to the abbey, they have been rebuilt identically.
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