Ename Abbey, founded by the Benedictines in 1063, was one of the most important monasteries in the medieval County of Flanders. It was dissolved during the French Revolutionary Wars in 1795 and subsequently demolished, leaving only foundations — but those foundations have been painstakingly excavated and are now open as an outdoor archaeological park on the east bank of the Scheldt, about three kilometres north of Oudenaarde's centre.
The associated PAM Ename heritage centre (Provinciaal Archeologisch Museum) gives context to what you see on the ground: scale models of the abbey at its medieval peak, displays of finds from the excavations, and explanations of monastic life and the town's wider history. The setting beside the river is pleasant, and the site includes the still-standing twelfth-century Romanesque church of Sint-Laurentius, which gives an idea of the architectural ambition of the original complex.