Travel Guide Vabres-L'Abbaye

As its name indicates, the village was characterized in the past by its abbey. Its history, whether religious or civil, has been troubled. We note the presence, as early as the 9th century, of a Benedictine abbey. In 862, Raymond I, Count of Toulouse, gave his lands in Vabres to a community of Benedictine monks driven out of the Périgord by the Norman invasions. Unfortunately, Abbot Bernard was not able to keep his flock together and he even had to flee in 1217. In 1317, John XXII, the second pope of Avignon, chose the abbey of Vabres as the seat of a new diocese, the one of Rodez being considered too vast. During the Wars of Religion, in 1568, the Protestant army of Jacques de Crussol d'Uzès stormed Vabres, destroying part of the cathedral, the episcopal palace and the city. Then, in 1790, the department of Aveyron was created; the diocese of Vabres was then again associated with that of Rodez. The village had to undergo the Wars of Religion, but also the wrath of the Revolution which caused it to lose many of its privileges. Of this religious past, there remains only a cathedral of Gothic Languedoc style dating from the XIVth century. It houses a magnificent altarpiece with marble columns framing a painting of Christ. This church was rebuilt in 1594, after the Protestants burned it down. It also has a magnificent organ case dating from 1761 and classified as a historical monument. Of the episcopal palace, only a building remains today which has been converted into a retirement home.