Musée du Cloître de Notre Dame en Vaux

Attached to the north facade of the Church Notre-Dame-en-Vaux, a monument listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the cloister was built in the years 1170-80. Destroyed in 1759 and 1766 by the canons and parishioners who no longer wanted to pay for repairs, it fell into oblivion for two centuries.

The excavations undertaken by Léon Pressouyre between 1963 and 1976 have brought to light three quarters of the elements of the cloister. They reveal a building of exceptional iconographic richness and great decorative sumptuousness which constitutes a major monument in the history of sculpture at this time of transition between Romanesque and Gothic.

The statues-columns, decorative and historiated capitals, cornices and pillars that made up this unique ensemble are presented in a museum in the immediate vicinity of the area of the former cloister.

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