St Riquier: visit Saint Riquier abbey and more with Visit Somme
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(c) Guilaume Crochez

Saint-Riquier, rebirth of an abbey

  • 625year abbey was founded
  • 100thousand visitors
  • 5hectare estate

A brief history

SINCE 625

The abbey of Saint-Riquier, founded in 625, has housed, since 2012, a 'Centre Culturel de Rencontre' devoted to writing and books. It was founded in 625 by the future Saint Riquier, over a spring that had been an ancient place of pagan worship.
It became a royal abbey in 632, placed under the protection of King Dagobert I. Charlemagne himself entrusted his son-in-law, Angilbert, with the construction of a vast new abbey, using the noblest of materials, thus establishing a model of religious architecture for ecclesiastical buildings throughout the western world.
Thanks to its library which, over the centuries, became one of the largest in Europe and to its scriptorium actively engaged in creating and disseminating the Carolingian minuscule, the abbey played an important part in the preservation and transmission of knowledge until the end of the 12th century.
A jewel of Gothic architecture, the abbey was often damaged by fires or plundering but still remains one of the finest buildings in France, thanks in large measure to works carried out in the 17th century by Charles d'Aligre.

 

st-Riquier, Somme© Guillaume Crochez
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st-Riquier, Somme© Guillaume Crochez
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Festival de Saint-Riquier Baie de Somme©comdesimages
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Centre Culturel de Rencontre

DEDICATED TO WRITING AND BOOKS

Today the royal abbey is a 'Centre Culturel de Rencontre' (officially recognised as such in 2013 by the Ministry of Culture), dedicated to writing and books in this digital age.
The abbey is also used for exhibitions, seminars, concerts and artists in residence.

 

Abbaye Royale de Saint-Riquier
Tel.: +33(0)3 22 999 625

See the website

A unique place. A cultural programme as rich as the architecture of the great doors of the abbey church.
Abbaye de Saint-Riquier ©Guillaume Crochez
Saint-Riquier Exposition Titus Carmel, Somme©Abbaye royale de Saint-Riquier
Abbaye de Saint-Riquier © Yazid Medmoun
Saint-Riquier Festival, Somme©Abbaye-Saint-Riquier

Famous festival

classic music and jazz

For over thirty years the abbey walls have resounded, every summer, to the harmonies of musicians performing at the Festival of the Saint-Riquier abbey, a feast of musical delights, whose artistic director is Hervé Niquet.

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