Ancienne abbaye de Coulombs
AbbeyHidden Treasure
A medieval vestige buried beneath a hospital estate, the former abbey of Coulombs contains the sarcophagus of John of Salisbury, a philosopher bishop of the 12th century, and the foundations of a Romanesque ambulatory of rare elegance.
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History
Two metres beneath the gardens of a hospital in Lèves, on the outskirts of Chartres, lies one of the Eure-et-Loir's most little-known architectural treasures. The former abbey of Coulombs, founded at the turn of the twelfth century, is now no more than a discreet underground presence, but its very silence fascinates: where the grasses have reclaimed their rights, Romanesque columns are still waiting to be fully rediscovered. What distinguishes Coulombs from so many ruined abbeys is the singularity of what it has preserved despite the ravages of the Revolution. The bases of the ambulatory columns, the powerful pillars of the transept crossing and the fragments of John of Salisbury's sarcophagus - two sides out of three decorated with bas-reliefs - make up an archaeological ensemble of rare emotional density. This mutilated tomb, whose lid was broken during the revolutionary violence of 1792, still bears witness to medieval funerary art of great finesse. The 15th-century Gothic cloister, the only visible elevation, provides a striking contrast with these buried remains. Its sober but harmonious galleries are a reminder of the long continuity of monastic life in these parts, from the Romanesque period to the turmoil of the Revolution. For lovers of medieval architecture, the juxtaposition of these two time periods - underground Romanesque and emerging Gothic - is a unique intellectual and emotional experience. The visit is aimed primarily at those with a passion for medieval history and monastic archaeology. You have to be prepared to see a little to imagine a lot: here, contemplation takes precedence over spectacle. The contemporary hospital setting, as unusual as it is, paradoxically reinforces the feeling that you are passing through the layers of time, as if the caring function of the place had crossed the centuries in different forms. Protected as a Historic Monument since 1914, Coulombs Abbey enjoys official recognition that has not yet found its full echo in the consciousness of the general public - which makes it precisely a monument to be discovered before the others.
Architecture
Coulombs Abbey is the result of the superimposition of two major architectural phases, as can be seen from the surviving remains. The abbey church, built in the 12th century, was of the late Romanesque style as practised in the Chartres region: Latin cross plan, ambulatory around the choir to allow pilgrims to circulate, and transept crossing supported by powerful pillars, the bases of which still survive in situ. The quality of the column profiles visible in the excavations bears witness to a meticulous building project, in keeping with the prestige of the house and its proximity to one of the great centres of French medieval architecture. The 15th-century cloister, the only surviving structure, illustrates provincial flamboyant Gothic in its Beauceron sobriety. Its galleries of moulded arcades, punctuated by slender columns, once framed an interior garden where the monks could meditate and stroll. Although stripped of its original decoration, the building retains a beautiful spatial coherence and a harmony of proportions characteristic of monastic enclosures in the late Middle Ages. Among the furnishings, the sarcophagus of John of Salisbury deserves particular attention. The two surviving sides are decorated with figurative bas-reliefs - probably hagiographic scenes or figures of apostles - executed in finely worked local limestone, typical of ecclesiastical funerary sculpture from the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries. The disappearance of the lid deprives the altarpiece of its recumbent, but the side panels are enough to attest to the high artistic quality of the original monument.
Related Figures
Jean de Salisbury — philosophe, humaniste et évêque de Chartres (1176-1180), dont le sarcophage est conservé dans les vestiges de l'abbatialeThomas Becket — archevêque de Cantorbéry, dont Jean de Salisbury fut le secrétaire fidèle avant son martyre en 1170Fondateurs de l'abbaye — anonymes, vraisemblablement issus de la noblesse beauceronne du XIIe siècle liée à l'évêché de ChartresLes abbés de Coulombs — communauté monastique qui assura la continuité de la maison du XIIe siècle jusqu'à la RévolutionFulbert de Chartres — évêque influent du XIe siècle dont le rayonnement prépara le terrain à la fondation de maisons religieuses comme Coulombs dans l'orbite chartraine
