Ganagobie Abbey

(Local Name: Abbaye de Ganagobie) After the foundation of a monastery by the Bishop of Sisteron, Jean III, and the assimilation of this monastery into the already powerful Cluny in 935, it is presumed - although there is no documentation - that the present buildings of Ganagobie Abbey were erected in the 12th century. In good times there were more than a dozen monks in the community; the prior later acquired the title of Baron and had a seat in the state council. Decline set in about 1400 and at times the office of prior was held by laymen and even by Protestants. At the Revolution the abbey was secularized and sold. In 1881 it came into the possession of Benedictines who began the rebuilding; meanwhile restoration (including the mosaic) was concluded. The exterior is simple, with well-jointed masonry and wall pillars on the long sides as the only articulation. The doorway is both unusual and remarkable; in its archivolts and even in the door- frames round-toothed decoration was inserted at a later date and for this, stone from ribbed pillars was used. The somewhat archaic representation and iconography of the tympanum is remarkable for the period, including as it does temporal power, Christ in the Mandorla, the four evangelists among the 12 apostles. The interior has a single nave and consists of three square bays articulated by rectangular surrounding arches and buttresses. Adjoining the twin bays of the transepts is the choir with a main apse and side apses. The northern one is externally circular and probably belongs to an earlier building. The gallery in the west wall is reminiscent of Cluny and its liturgy, in which the singing of the choir is antiphonal. The sculptural decoration is modest, since it was accompanied by frescoes (traces of which remain) and the mosaics in the eastern bay of the transept and in the apses.