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Abbaye de Pontigny Review

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Abbaye de Pontigny

Fodor's Review:

Pontigny can easily be mistaken for another drowsy, dusty village, but its once proud Abbaye de Pontigny is as large as many cathedrals. In the 12th and 13th centuries it sheltered three archbishops of Canterbury, including St. Thomas à Becket (from 1164 to 1166). His path to refuge from the king of England was followed by his successor, Stephen Langton (here from 1207 to 1215), and, lastly, Edmund of Abingdon -- whose body, naturally mummified in the years following his death in 1240, has been venerated (as St. Edmund) by centuries of English pilgrims to Pontigny. His Baroque tomb, whose occupant is supposedly very much intact, can be seen at the rear of the church, although peeking through one of the openings is now strictly forbidden. The abbey was founded in 1114, and the current church finished around 1150. By Burgundian standards the church and lay brothers' quarters (all that remain) were precociously Gothic -- the first buildings in the region to have rib vaults. Inside, note the beautiful, late-17th-century Baroque choir stalls, carved with garlands and angels. On the grassy lawn next to the church is a large, plate-shape 12th-century fountain with 31 spigots and sculpted Gothic feet -- one of the few functioning medieval abbey fountains remaining in Europe.

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