Saint-Amand-de-Coly is a former French commune with 567 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019) in the Dordogne department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. It is classified as one of the Plus beaux villages de France (Most beautiful villages in France) (source Wikipedia).
The village is named after Amand, a hermit of Limousin origin who lived in the sixth century. He came to evangelize the people of this part of the Coly Valley and lived in a cave near which the village was developing. It is likely that a first oratory was built at this time. The presence of a monastery at Saint-Amand-de-Coly is mentioned in a document from 1048 in the Vatican Library.
The construction of the abbey began in the early twelfth century and was completed in the early thirteenth century. Chapel and north transept, choir, chapel and south transept, then nave and portal were built one after the other. Abbot Wilhelm was the first master builder shortly before 1124. The XII. and XIII. Century marked the peak of the Abbey of the Augustinian Order, the middle of the XIII. Century attached to the papacy. It was probably during the Hundred Years' War that the defensive systems that make the Abbey of Saint-Amand-de-Coly the most heavily fortified church in the Périgord were put in place.
With the Revolution, the abbey church became a parish church. In 1877, Father Carrier, with 423 of his parishioners, cleared the area surrounding the building, which was listed as a historic monument in 1886.
Very old picturesque place, a must see if you are around.