Serrabone Priory (french: Prieuré de Serrabone; ca, Santa Maria de Serrabona) is a former monastery of

Canons Regular Canons regular are priests who live in community under a rule ( and canon in greek) and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religious life, such as clerics regular, designated by ...

in the

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

Boule-d'Amont Boule-d'Amont (; ca, Bula d'Amunt) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. Geography Localisation Boule-d'Amont is located in the canton of Le Canigou and in the arrondissement of Prades. Government an ...

, in Pyrénées-Orientales. The

priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of ...

is located in a wild and beautiful area in the valley of the Boulès in the heart of an oak forest, at the centre of the Aspres mountain range on the eastern foothills of the

Canigou The Canigó ( ca, Canigó, french: Canigou ; la, mons Canigosus or Canigonis) is a mountain located in the Pyrenees of southern France. The Canigó is located less than from the sea and has an elevation of . Due to its sharp flanks and its dra ...

, about 30 km from Perpignan. It is famous for its splendid marble rostrum from the 12th century, regarded as a masterpiece of Romanesque art.

History

The name of the monastery derives from the

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

"serra bona", meaning "good mountain". The original foundation - of which order if any is unclear - on the site took place in the 10th or 11th century and is recorded in a document of 1069. In 1082, under the patronage of the local lords and the Count of Conflent, who gave it property and revenues, it was re-established as an

Augustinian Augustinian may refer to: *Augustinians, members of religious orders following the Rule of St Augustine *Augustinianism, the teachings of Augustine of Hippo and his intellectual heirs *Someone who follows Augustine of Hippo * Canons Regular of Sain ...

priory.

Architecture

The first

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

at Serrabone had just one nave with a pointed barrel vault. An extensive transformation took place in the 12th century. A

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building wi ...

and three apses replaced the earlier chevet. The principal apse, protruding on the exterior, is flanked by two absidoles enclosed in the walls. On the north side there is a second nave and a bell tower, on the south side a

cloister A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a ...

, and another building containing three rooms. The thick walls of the nave are built of local

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes ...

rubble stone. The second construction was more elaborate and used large blocks of cut schist which were carefully placed. The sculptures in the cloister, the main portal, the window in the apsidole and the gallery, are all worked in pink

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...

from the

Conflent Conflent () is a historical Catalan comarca of Northern Catalonia, now part of the French department of Pyrénées-Orientales. In the Middle Ages it comprised the County of Conflent. The capital of this ''pays'' is Prades ( ca, Prada de ...

, which makes a startling contrast to the green-grey of the schist.

References

External links

Serrabone Priory official page

On Google map

Visiting information
{{Authority control Christian monasteries established in the 11th century 12th-century churches in France Buildings and structures in Pyrénées-Orientales Augustinian monasteries in France Romanesque architecture in France Churches in Pyrénées-Orientales Monuments historiques of Pyrénées-Orientales