Vauclair Abbey

The monastery was built about 15 kilometers to the south of Laon in an east-west stretch of the Ailette river valley at the foot of the northern side of the Chemin des Dames, on a site already occupied by a church, in the present commune of Bouconville-Vauclair.

In 1142, on the initiative of Bernard and of Hatto, bishop of Troyes, Le Reclus Abbey north of Sézanne was made subsidiary to Vauclair.

Its geographical location very near to the Chemin des Dames led to what was left of its buildings being almost totally destroyed in 1917 by direct artillery bombardment.

Following excavations[1] in 1966 by a local association led by a young Belgian Jesuit, Père René Courtois, who lived in the abbey from 1966 until his death in 2005, the site was made a monument historique in 1970.

The site now also includes an arboretum of apple and pear trees and a medicinal herb garden planned by Courtois and opened in 1976.