The abbey of Mégemont in Chassagne

Go back to Vodable and follow the direction of Tourzel-Ronzières by the road D124 and then the direction of the place called “Le Malnon” (road D23).

The Cistercian abbey of Mégemont (Historical Monument in 1954) was created in 1206 by Dauphin, count of Auvergne, for nuns. Around 1575, the Huguenots of the captain Merle destroyed some buildings and burned the archives. In 1612, the young abbess Françoise de Nérestang left Mégemont to swap places with her brother Claude, abbot of the Cistercian abbey of La Bénisson-Dieu in the Loire area. From then on, the clergymen were in charge of Mégemont. In 1743, the building was reconstructed. In the Revolution, the abbey was sold as national property and became an agricultural building, until the municipality bought it back, in partnership with the Association “Les Amis de l’Abbaye de Mégemont” created in 1992. Thanks to the numerous restoration works, you can still see the transept and the choir of the abbey-church from the 13th century and the eastern part of the conventual buildings from the 18th century, the ruins of the nave and a part of the surrounding wall.