Abbey of Saint-Martin d’Ainay

Around 863, this abbot brought monks from the monastery of Bonneval (Eure-et-Loir) to reorganise the community, although they later returned to their original house. Aurelius was appointed Archbishop of Lyon in 875, but retained the office of abbot until his death in 895. In the tenth century the monastery was destroyed during a Hungarian raid and was restored once again by Abbot Amblard († 978). The present church was built at the end of the eleventh century and the beginning of the twelfth, and was consecrated by Pope Paschal II in 1107. From then on, the abbey enjoyed a long period of prosperity, gaining considerable prestige and accumulating extensive possessions, which were gradually lost as a result of a prolonged crisis that affected both observance and the institution itself.

From 1835 onwards, an unfortunate restoration of the church was undertaken, transforming it into an essentially Neo-Romanesque building, although some medieval spaces and sculptural elements have survived. During this process, the remains of the cloister, already in a ruinous state, were destroyed. What remains of the medieval structure is the central core, with three four-bay aisles, an atrium with a bell tower on the western façade, a transept, and three semicircular apses aligned with the aisles, of which only the central one is externally visible. Modern alterations largely obscure the overall appearance.