Chevetonge Attractions

Chevetonge, 15km/9.5mi northwest of Rochefort, lies on the border between the regions of Condroz and Famenne. This village is the headquarters of the Benedictine monastic brotherhood "Exaltation de la Sainte-Croix" (raising of the cross), founded in 1926 by Lambert Baudouin in Amay, the main principles of which are the rapprochement between the Catholic and the Russian orthodox churches. In 1939 the monks moved to Chevetonge where they occupied the buildings of a monastery which had been abandoned in 1902. Here in 1957 they built the oriental church after the pattern of the 11th C. Russian-Byzantine church in Novgorod which is a rectangular brick building with a large narthex, a central dome and a crypt. All the walls of the interior are decorated with frescoes by Greek artists, the religious representation of which corresponds to orthodox beliefs.