The Abbey of Saint-Roman (French: Abbaye de Saint-Roman) is a

cave monastery A cave monastery is a monastery built in caves, with possible outside facilities. The 3rd-century monk St. Antony the Great, known as the founder of monasticism Monasticism (from Ancient Greek , , from , , 'alone'), also referred to as monach ...

located in the communes of Beaucaire and Comps, in the

Gard Gard () is a department in Southern France, located in the region of Occitanie. It had a population of 748,437 as of 2019;département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...

'' of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. The site, which includes the ruins of a castle, the château de Saint-Roman-d'Aiguille, has been protected by the

French Ministry of Culture The Ministry of Culture (french: Ministère de la Culture) is the ministry of the Government of France in charge of national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and protection of the arts (visual, ...

as a ''

monument historique ''Monument historique'' () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which National Heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a coll ...

'' since 1990 and includes a chapel, cloisters, terrace, tombs and walls. It was constructed in the 9th, 10th, 12th and 15th centuries. The abbey is reached by a signposted path from Beaucaire which leads past a vast chamber and the monks' cells to the chapel carved out of the rock which contains the tomb of St Roman. From the terrace, there is a fine view over the

Rhône The Rhône ( , ; wae, Rotten ; frp, Rôno ; oc, Ròse ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Ar ...

Avignon Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of So ...

and the

Mont Ventoux Mont Ventoux (; oc, Ventor, label= Provençal ) is a mountain in the Provence region of southern France, located some northeast of Carpentras, Vaucluse. On the north side, the mountain borders the department of Drôme. At , it is the highest m ...

area with

Tarascon Tarascon (; ), sometimes referred to as Tarascon-sur-Rhône, is a commune situated at the extreme west of the Bouches-du-Rhône department of France in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Inhabitants are referred to as Tarasconnais or Tarasc ...

in the foreground. The Michelin Guide describes it "a site of captivating simplicity".Michelin Green Guide ''Provence'', Michelin Apa Publications Ltd; 7th edition (2010),

References

External links

Abbey of Saint-Roman website
* Benedictine monasteries in France Buildings and structures in Gard Ruins in Occitania (administrative region) Cave monasteries Tourist attractions in Gard Beaucaire, Gard {{France-Christian-monastery-stub