L'Abbaye troglodytique de Saint-Roman

Abbaye de Saint-Roman

Useful Information

Abbaye troglodytique de Saint-Roman, France. Public Domain.

Location:	Chemin de l Abbaye de Saint-Roman, 30300 Beaucaire. 5 km north of the twin cities Beaucaire/Tarascon, on the eastern side of the Rhone. From the roundabout D999/D90 follow the small road Chemin de la Tapie, which then changes its name to Chemin de Saint Roman. 15 minutes walk to the top of the hill. (43.835361, 4.610880)
Open:	FEB Tue-Sun, Hol 14-17:30. MAR Tue-Sun, Hol 14-18. APR to JUN Tue-Fri 14-18:30, Sat, Sun, Hol 10-13, 14-18:30. JUL to AUG daily 10-13, 14-18:30. SEP to OCT Tue-Fri 14-18:30, Sat, Sun, Hol 10-13, 14-18:30. NOV Tue-Sat, Hol 14-18, Sun 10-13, 14-18. DEC to JAN Sat, Sun 14-17, School Holidays Tue-Sun 14-17:30. Closed 24-DEC, 25-DEC, 31-DEC, 01-JAN. [2024]
Fee:	Adults EUR 6, Children (0-17) free, Students EUR 5, Unemployed EUR 5. Groups (12+): Adults EUR 5. [2024]
Classification:	Cave Church Cave House
Light:	bring torch
Dimension:	T=14-16 °C.
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Abbaye de Saint-Roman, c/o Mas des Tourelles, 4294, route de Bellegarde, 30300 Beaucaire, Tel: +33-781-56-44-51. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

5th century	hermits start to live in small artificial caves on the hill.
7th century	Benedictine monastery founded.
961	first written mention of a monastery dedicated to Saint Roman.
14th century	antipope Urban V opens a papal school in the monastery, but it exists only for a short time.
14th century	monastery is fortified.
1538	Psalmodie Abbey converted into a canonical school and Saint-Roman sold and transformed into a castle.
1850	fortress destroyed.
1960	begin of archaeological exploration.
1988	purchased by the municipality Beaucaire.
1991	declared a Monument historique.

Description

The Abbaye troglodytique de Saint-Roman (Cave Dwellers Abbey Saint Roman) is the modern name of this place which is a tourist site. The forest just north of Beaucaire/Tarascon, the twin city with the bridge across the Rhone, has three hills, L'Aiguille (152 m asl), Rocher der Triple Levée (156 m als), and Saint Roman (120 m asl). All three hills are crowned by a limestone plateau with vertical walls, a rather common geological structure where a hard layer of limestone forms an escarpment. The habitation of the hill started with hermits in the 5th century, who dug small cells into the rock where they lived. They lived on the L'Aiguille and Saint Roman hills. The hermits lived an oriental monastic lifestyle in the lineage of the Fathers of the Desert. At least that's the interpretation of some scholars, who also compare the site with cave monasteries in Cappadocia and Egypt. As far as we see there is no objective connection except for similar excavation techniques, which also may be a result of the necessity to dig caverns out of rock by hand with simple tools. Probably in the 7th century the place became a monastery, the hermits became monks and adopted the Benedictine Rule. They dug into the rock to create more rooms to store food, goods, and to live in, they built a chapel and common rooms. The fact that the whole monastery was underground is why they are called troglodytes today, and the monastery is called abbaye troglodytique (troglodytic abbey). The underground location had several advantages, most important were probably the moderate temperature during the hot summers and the possibility to store food and wine. Some sources say it's the only fully underground monastery in France. The monks buried their dead on top of the rocky hill, today the empty graves form a strange pattern. The necropolis contains anthropomorphic rock tombs which were created between the 8th and 12th centuries.

The monastery was rather small, and later it was only a priory under the control of Psalmodie Abbey near Aigues-Mortes, but it had some privileges. The antipope Urban V opened a papal school in the 14th century, which existed only for a short time. In the same century the monastery was fortified. In 1538, Psalmodie Abbey was converted into a canonical school and Saint Roman was sold. The new owner completed the fortifications and replaced part of the monastery buildings on the terrace with a small castle. This castle was named Château de St-Roman and changed ownership several times. It was finally dismantled to sell all the stones between 1820 and 1830 by one of its last owners. For more than a century, the site was uninhabited and more or less abandoned.

In the 1960s, the Beaucaire History and Archaeology Society heard about the site and after clearing the site began archaeological excavations. An enormous mass of rubble was removed by young volunteers over a period of around fifteen years. In 1988, the municipality of Beaucaire purchased the site and in 1991 it was recognised as a Historical Monument. Both the transformation into a castle and its destruction did not influence the old caves very much, and so these are rather well preserved until today. Most impressive are probably the graves of the monks, which where dug directly into the massive rock surface on top of the hill. They were dug on the rock which was not suitable for farming, as fertile land was very sparse. The anthropomorphic form allowed the burial without a coffin, which was important to safe wood. At that time, wood was very rare and expensive. The enormous number of more than 200 coffins is a sign that most were those of peasants who worked for the abbey and therefore had the privilege of being buried there, close to the protective relics present in the chapel.

The site is gated for its protection, and may be visited on self-guided walks during the open hours. There are numerous trails and educational signs, the visitors get a written explanation with a map, which is available in several languages. The site has numerous staircases and steep trails, so good walking shoes are recommended. Also, we recommend bringing a torch, although most caverns get enough daylight.