Clairvaux Abbey

Clairvaux Abbey was founded in 1115 by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. It was established in the Champagne region of France as the fourth daughter house of the Abbey of Cîteaux.

Clairvaux became one of the most powerful and influential monasteries of the Cistercian Order, serving as a mother house for dozens of daughter foundations. Under the leadership of Saint Bernard, the abbey acted as the spiritual and administrative headquarters for the order's rapid expansion across Europe.

Like many French abbeys, Clairvaux was heavily suppressed and secularized during the French Revolution in the late 18th century. The property was confiscated by the state, the monks were expelled, and the site was subsequently converted into a high-security prison in the 19th century.

Much of the medieval abbey was dismantled or heavily altered when it was transformed into a state prison under Napoleon. Today, only fragments of Saint Bernard's original 12th-century buildings survive alongside the imposing, austere prison architecture built in the 1800s.