A turbulent history spanning over 900 years

This is the lost and rediscovered story of a medieval Romanesque abbey that reveals its hidden side. A human story in which the quest for spirituality, political, economic, and religious interests, philosophical currents, and know-how are intimately linked.

At the beginning of the 12th century, in the context of the great monastic revival, a small religious congregation, the Order of Chalais, close to the Cistercian order, was established on the southern slope of the Grande Chartreuse massif. This highly virtuous order would spread throughout Provence. It was in this context that Boscodon Abbey was founded in 1142.

At the beginning of the 14th century, the abbey of Boscodon became the head of the order of the Chalaisians and spread throughout Provence, where it established around ten abbeys and priories. But, grandeur and decadence followed one another; little by little, all its 'daughters' joined other congregations and the order disappeared at the end of the 14th century.

A Benedictine community then settled in place of the Chalaisians in Boscodon. From the 15th to the 17th century, wars did not spare Provence or the abbey, which was destroyed and rebuilt several times.

From the 16th to the 18th century, the abbey, placed under the regime of the 'commendation', was run by commendatory abbots who were not required to follow the rules of the order or to reside permanently in their abbey.

In 1769, the edict of Louis XV stipulated that abbeys with a small number of members had to be attached to a larger congregation, which gave the Archbishop of Embrun a pretext for dissolving the convent and taking possession of the place. The abbey became a dependency of the archbishopric, which exploited the forest's wood excessively, using the church as a storage space for the wood.

With the French Revolution, the clergy's property was nationalized and the Boscodon estate was sold to lumberjack and peasant families.

In the 20th century, after the two world wars, there was a rural exodus. Boscodon then appeared in tourist guides under the name 'ruins.' By 1972, the buildings housed only three families. Twelve founding members then created an Association that, little by little, acquired the shares of each owner family, to restore and bring the place to life.

The association, which is now called the Association of Friends of Boscodon Abbey, completed the restoration work in 2012 with the inauguration of the cloister area.

Currently, it is an open place where hikers, history enthusiasts, young people, pilgrims meet for a free or guided tour, a show, an exhibition, a workshop, a time of reflection or a conference.