Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire - Abbey

The abbey at Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire (originally known as Fleury Abbey) was founded on the banks of the Loire river mid 7th century. It is one of the oldest abbeys of the Benedictine rule in France.

The story starts in 672, when some of its monks traveled to Montecassino (Italy), dug up the remains of St. Benedict of Nursia (+ 547) and his sister St. Scholastica and brought them home. After the relics had reached at Fleury Abbey it which was renamed Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire - and due to the relics became a major place of pilgrimage.

A famous school and a scriptorium existed here in the late 10th century.

The erection of the church started around 1071. When the church was consecrated in 1108, the long nave was not completed.

The abbey thrived, but times got rougher. In 1562, the abbey was pillaged by Huguenots. The buildings were restored, but looted and destroyed again during the French Revolution. Saint-Benoît's monks left the abbey and so the history of the convent ended after more than 1100 years.

The abbey church had escaped destruction and got restored in the 19th century. In 1944, the convent was refounded the abbey buildings were rebuilt by Benedictine monks after World War II. So the history of the convent was just interrupted for about 150 years.

The church, that stands today, was not the first church here. When it was erected, they abbey existed already longer than 400 years. I have the impression, that some spolia from the older structure were "reused" in the left walls.

Here are two reliefs, just "glued" together.

On the left is a hunting scene (lion + deer). It seems that the relief got rotated, to fit in. The large carving to the right is very damaged, it may depict Goliath and David (does the small person hold a slingshot?).

1 Samuel 17 4-7

"A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span. He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels."