Aube valley village where Bernard of Clairvaux founded the Cistercian abbey that reshaped medieval Europe.
Few places in France carry as much weight as Clairvaux. On 25 June 1115, a young monk named Bernard led a small band of Cistercians into a clearing in the forest of the Aube valley — then called Val d'Absinthe — and began building an abbey that would change medieval Europe. From Clairvaux, Bernard launched the Second Crusade, corresponded with popes and kings, and oversaw the founding of over 160 daughter abbeys. He died here in 1153 and was canonised just 21 years later.
The abbey's second life is stranger than its first. After the Revolution suppressed the monastery in 1790, the buildings were converted into a prison — which they remain to this day. The long, forbidding walls that seal off the complex from the outside world were built to contain inmates, not monks. It is one of the best-guarded historic sites in France, and that is precisely what makes gaining access feel like such an achievement.
Visiting requires planning. The Association Renaissance de l'Abbaye de Clairvaux organises guided tours of the prison-abbey from May through October on Saturday afternoons; you must bring identification and book in advance. What you find inside is remarkable: fragments of the original Romanesque monastery known as Clairvaux I (1115–1135), the magnificent lay brothers' building of Clairvaux II (1135–1708) — one of the best-preserved Cistercian structures in existence — and the vast classical cloister of Clairvaux III (1708–1792). The great abbey church itself was demolished in the early 19th century. Its absence only deepens the sense of loss.
Clairvaux is a village of about 1,500 people, 15 km south of Bar-sur-Aube. There is not much else here beyond the abbey, but that is more than enough.
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Books
A small literature has grown up around Clairvaux, both for its monastic and its carceral history.
The Letters of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (various editions, including a Cistercian Publications translation). Read a handful before visiting and the abbey becomes a different place — these are the letters of a 12th-century power broker writing to popes, kings, and would-be Crusaders from the cell where he died.
Le Dernier Jour d'un Condamné by Victor Hugo (1829). Hugo's blistering early novel against the death penalty was written when Clairvaux Prison was still relatively new, and the case of Sébastien Bornet — executed at Clairvaux — was part of what moved him. Reading this in the village adds an uncomfortable layer to the prison-abbey visit.
Vie de Saint Bernard de Clairvaux by Pierre Aubé (Fayard, 2003). The standard modern biography in French. Aubé is good on the contradictions: Bernard the contemplative who launched a crusade; the saint who could be ferociously combative; the man who insisted on austerity while building the wealthiest monastic network in medieval Europe.
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When to Go
The only guided access to the abbey runs on Saturday afternoons between May and October. Outside that window you can drive past, photograph the outer walls, and visit Ville-sous-la-Ferté, but you cannot get inside. Book your tour at least a few weeks in advance, especially in July and August when the slots fill quickly.
Spring and early autumn are the best times: the Aube valley is at its greenest in May and June, while the surrounding forests turn dramatically in October. Winter visits are possible to the area but offer no abbey access.
