After walking along the promenade known as the "Entre-deux-murs" (between two walls), built in the 16th century to provide access to the abbey quarter, you come to the Place de l'Abbaye, a paradise for bowls players. Through the gates, the cloister buildings, entirely rebuilt in the 17th century in the purest classical tradition, are listed as historic monuments on 3 October 1929. Near this symbolic centre of the abbey, a building on the right, with a large Gothic arcade, forms the choir of the abbey church. Dating from the 12th century, it is the only vestige of the church consecrated in 1158 by Peter of Tarentaise, whose nave originally closed off the cloister. The abbey church was demolished in 1760, when a disorientated Baroque church was built perpendicular to it. It occupied the entire length of the square in front of the gate, before being demolished in 1828 by the ironmaster de la Thuilière, when the abbey was converted into a prison (where the Communard Louise Michel stayed).
To the right of the gate (on the abbot's palace side) were once the abbot's sheds, with blind facades. They were converted into accommodation during the 19th century. Opposite, the other sheds and barns underwent the same transformation, before becoming the accommodation for the chaplain of the central prison (or prison) for the half facing the courtyard, and the prison infirmary at the back.
La place de l'abbaye d'Auberive
