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nice place to visit

nice place to visit

Montreuil on the sea

Montreuil on the sea

A pretty cobbled street that goes up, or down, depending on your point of view!

The origins of Montreuil, whose name derives from the Latin 'monasteriolum' (small monastery), are closely linked to its religious history. The abbey church of Saint-Saulve in Montreuil-sur-Mer was built in the 12th century and is located on the site of an older monastery dedicated to Saint Walloy, founded in the 10th century. In 926, the monks of Landévennec (Finistère) fled the Norman invasions and found refuge in Montreuil, where they founded the abbey of Saint-Walloy (local deformation of the name Saint Guénolé). In 1111, this abbey changed its name when the remains of Saint-Saulve were brought there. In its original design, the building had a layout typical of pilgrimage churches with an ambulatory and radiating chapels. In the Middle Ages, the numerous relics attracted pilgrims to Montreuil and gave the town a character of holiness. It was then nicknamed 'The Necropolis of Ponthieu'. The reconstruction after the earthquake of 1467 caused the collapse of at least six religious buildings, including the Hôtel-Dieu and the Saint-Saulve church, which was completely rebuilt at the beginning of the 16th century.

The Hôtel-Dieu was founded in the 13th century by Gauthier de Maintenay. The hospital and chapel have been run by the Augustinian sisters since 1252 and were badly affected by the mysterious natural disaster of 1467. The sanctuary was rebuilt and consecrated in 1475. All that remains from the 15th century is the flamboyant portal.

The Abbey of Sainte-Austreberthe is one of two large monasteries in Montreuil-sur-Mer, originally founded in the 10th century. The protection offered by the ramparts in the context of Viking raids gave the Norman nuns of Pavilly the certainty of preserving the relics of their patron saint: Austreberthe. She is a Merovingian aristocrat from Marconnes near Hesdin. The current buildings were built in 1736 and 1750. They still include the cloister and the chapel. During the French Revolution, the nuns temporarily left France for England, taking with them the treasure trove of sacred art and the relics it contained. With the dissolution of the community at the beginning of the 19th century, works of art and precious reliquaries, including the crosier of Saint Austreberthe, were deposited in the abbey church of Sainte-Saulve, where they are still located.