The art of Christmas at Fontevraud

To mark the 900th anniversary of the birth of Eleanor of Aquitaine, the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud unveils a unique artistic journey, where history meets contemporary creation in a magical celebration of Christmas. Camille Chastang’s La Table de Noël is one of the highlights, a monumental installation that pays homage to Queen Eleanor and her first Christmas in 1154 with Henry II.

Inspired by this historic moment, Camille Chastang has created a 20-meter-long table adorned with contemporary faience pieces featuring floral motifs, reinterpretations of 12th-century crockery. This immersive work, which deploys bewitching sounds and fragrances, plunges visitors into the atmosphere of a medieval royal court, while exploring the intimacy of a royal couple through symbols of love hidden in the presents. The table thus becomes a meeting place for history and poetry, where the magnificence of the past blends with a contemporary vision of celebration and affection.

The art trail extends far beyond this installation. In the Romanesque kitchen, Emma Loriot and Julien Clauss’s Octoéchos is an original sound creation that plunges visitors into a world of total immersion. In the courtyard of Saint-Benoît, the Winter Garden, designed by the educational team and students of Lycée Edgard Pisani, invites visitors to a sensory and bucolic stopover. In the Saint-Benoît chapel, the works of Jean-Simon Roch and Geoffroy Pithon fascinate with their inventiveness, while Agathe Demois’s Ronde de Nuit is an interactive book, inviting visitors on a poetic adventure through the intricacies of the monastery. The tour ends with a luminous moment, with thousands of fireflies revealing the abbey in all its splendor as night falls.

Beneath the star in the center of the choir, Jean Touret’s generous, prophetic Nativity illuminates the space, adding the final touch to this magical experience.

Works on the Fontevraud art trail:
– The partridge and the pear tree, the first Christmas of Eleanor and Henry II – Camille Chastang
Until February 25, 2025
– Effervescence – Lycée agricole Edgard Pisani
Until March 3, 2025
– Octoéchos – Original in-situ sound creation, Emma Loriot & Julien Clauss
Until March 3, 2025
– Ronde de Nuit – Agathe Demois
Until April 3, 2025
– Tresser Tracer – Jean-Simon Roch and Geoffroy Pithon
Until April 3, 2025

The Royal Abbey of Fontevraud invites you to immerse yourself in this sensory and poetic experience, where art, history and the magic of Christmas intertwine to create a unique moment of wonder.