Doorway from Moutiers-Saint-Jean MET DP255158

Moutiers-Saint-Jean Abbey (from Latin ''monasterium sancti Johannis'', french: Abbaye de Moutiers-Saint-Jean, also ''Abbaye Saint-Jean-de-Réome'') was a monastery located in what is now the village of

Moutiers-Saint-Jean Moutiers-Saint-Jean () is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department in eastern France. It is named after the monastery of Saint John of Réôme. Population See also *Communes of the Côte-d'Or department The following is a list of the 698 c ...

(named after the monastery) in the Côte-d'Or department in eastern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. It is in Burgundy, near

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

. The monastery was founded by a monk named

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

around 450. In the seventh century, during the abbacy of Chunna (''Hunnanus''), a monk from

Remiremont Remiremont (; german: Romberg or ) is a town and commune in the Vosges department, northeastern France, situated in southern Grand Est. The town has been an abbatial centre since the 7th century, is an economic crossroads of the Moselle and Mos ...

, the original

monastic rule A religious order is a lineage of communities and organizations of people who live in some way set apart from society in accordance with their specific religious devotion, usually characterized by the principles of its founder's religious practic ...

, which had been that of the ancient saint

Macarius of Alexandria Saint Macarius of Alexandria (died 395) was a monk in the Nitrian Desert. He was a slightly younger contemporary of Macarius of Egypt, and is thus also known as Macarius the Younger. Life Macarius was born about the year 300 in Alexandria. He ...

, was replaced by that of

Luxeuil Luxeuil-les-Bains () is a commune in the Haute-Saône department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. History Luxeuil (sometimes rendered Luxeu in older texts) was the Roman Luxovium and contained many fine buildings ...

, founded by the Irish missionary Columbanus. When

Jonas of Bobbio Jonas of Bobbio (also known as Jonas of Susa) (Sigusia, now Susa, Italy, 600 – after 659 AD) was a Columbanian monk and a major Latin monastic author of hagiography. His ''Life of Saint Columbanus'' is "one of the most influential works of ...

stayed at the monastery in 659, during Chunna's abbacy, he was compelled by the monks to write a biography of their founder. The result was the ''Vita Iohannis''. In 816–17, Saint-Jean was reformed according to the synods of Aachen. According to the record of monasteries made around that time, it owed the Carolingian state annually both a monetary gift (''dona'') and a military contribution (''militia''). The abbey became a major center of influence, by kings and nobles over the centuries; at one time it was financed by the

dukes of Burgundy Duke of Burgundy (french: duc de Bourgogne) was a title used by the rulers of the Duchy of Burgundy, from its establishment in 843 to its annexation by France in 1477, and later by Holy Roman Emperors and Kings of Spain from the House of Habsburg ...

. Moutiers-Saint-Jean was sacked, burned and rebuilt a number of times; in 1567 the

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

army struck off the heads of the two kings on the main doorway.Little, 67 In 1797, after the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

, the entire building was sold as rubble for rebuilding. It lay in ruin for decades, with the sculpture severely defaced, before the Doorway from Moutiers-Saint-Jean was bought from the landowner and moved to New York in 1932, where it is now in

The Cloisters The Cloisters, also known as the Met Cloisters, is a museum in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City. The museum, situated in Fort Tryon Park, specializes in European medieval art and architecture, with a fo ...

museum. The remains of the abbey (the 14th-century main gate, the facades of two 17th-century buildings, the grounds of the abbey and the abbey church) are protected by the French government.

Notes

Sources

*Barnet, Peter. ''The Cloisters: Medieval Art and Architecture''. CT: Yale University Press, 2005. * * * *Little, Charles. "Set in Stone : The Face in Medieval Sculpture". New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2006. *Young, Bonnie. ''A Walk Through The Cloisters''. New York: Viking Press, 1979.

External links

*http://www.abbayedemoutiers.fr/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Moutier-Saint-Jean de Reome Benedictine monasteries in France Buildings and structures in Côte-d'Or