Abbey of Gellone, Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert

The abbey of Gellone lies at the bottom of a narrow valley in the Hérault gorges, where the Verdus flows. Guilhem, Count of Toulouse and cousin of Charlemagne, founded a monastery there shortly before 804, and went on to end his life there. The village that grew up around the abbey now bears his name: Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, with just over 230 inhabitants, which holds the label of one of the Most Beautiful Villages of France.

A place of pilgrimage since the Middle Ages

D’après la tradition, Charlemagne offre à Guilhem un fragment de la Vraie Croix. Cette relique, et le tombeau du fondateur, reconnu saint en 1066, attirent très tôt les pèlerins. L’abbaye devient une étape du chemin d’Arles vers Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle, au point que des marcheurs partis du Puy faisaient un détour pour venir s’y recueillir. Au XII^e siècle finissant, elle compte une centaine de moines.

In 1998, UNESCO added the abbey to its World Heritage List as part of the Routes of Saint James of Compostela in France.

What you can visit today

The Romanesque abbey church has become the village church. It appears on the very first list of historic monuments, in 1840. The cloister has fared less well over time: dismantled after the Revolution, it lost much of its sculpture, sold in 1906 to an American collector. They have been displayed at the Met Cloisters in New York since 1925. On site, an exhibition presents carved elements and a film that traces the history of the abbey and the reconstruction of its cloister.

Why it is called an energy site

In the Hérault, few sites are cited as often as Saint-Guilhem by those seeking energy sites. Twelve centuries of religious history, the silence of the abbey church and the cliffs enclosing the valley all contribute. Everyone experiences it in their own way: your account in the comments will help those planning to hike up the gorges to the village.

Around Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert

The village is part of the Grand Site de France Gorges de l’Hérault. A few kilometres downstream, the Pont du Diable, between Aniane and Saint-Jean-de-Fos, is also listed as a World Heritage Site. The Clamouse cave, open to the public, can be visited at Saint-Jean-de-Fos. Walkers follow the GR 653, the Chemin d’Arles, which crosses the Saint-Guilhem hills.

The abbey is about thirty kilometres as the crow flies north-west of Montpellier, which makes it an easy outing during a retreat or wellness retreat in Hérault.