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Musicaventure Alone, with family, friends or colleagues, live an exhilarating and original adventure in the heart of the Abbaye aux Dames! Test Musicaventure
Contactl'Abbaye Aux Dames Phone: +33 (0)5 46 97 48 48 info@abbayeauxdames.org

The association

The association
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The Abbaye aux Dames, cité musicale

A thousand-year influence

The Abbaye aux Dames, the first women’s abbey in Saintonge, was founded in 1047.
These powerful, independent dames carried crosiers, struck money and had a taste for enterprise. For a thousand years, people have thought, slept, undertaken business, studied and prayed at the abbey.

A creative spirit

Now a musical centre or cité musicale, it perpetuates its creative civic movement.

 

Music is the heart of the abbey, with:

  • the Festival de Saintes, a fantastic event dedicated to early music that always prominently features Bach,
  • the Jeune Orchestre de l’Abbaye (JOA), a springboard for the music stage that provides young musicians from all over the world with a unique training in period instruments,
  • Musicaventure, a connected, sensory exploration of the site,
  • concerts all year round,
  • long-term cultural outreach activities.

The abbey is also hospitable, welcoming visitors to its intentionally understated hotel.
The Abboutique promotes local produce and regional literary and musical works.
With its diverse audiences, long-term cultural outreach programme and the use of some of the site as state-rented lodgings and artists’ residences, the Abbaye aux Dames takes an active part in the life of Saintes residents. Propitious to exchanges and open to all, the abbey invites you to enjoy the emotions and pleasure of music with complete simplicity and authenticity.
These activities, which complement and mutually enrich one another, make the Abbaye aux Dames a unique musical ecosystem.

The Association Abbaye aux Dames, la cité musicale is a member of the network of Heritage Sites for Culture (Centres culturels de rencontre or CCR in French).