Abbey of Hautecombe

The origin of Hautecombe is connected with the monastery of Notre-Dame d’Aulps (Haute-Savoie), a house that maintained close ties with the abbey of Molesme (Côte-d’Or). At the beginning of the twelfth century, a group of monks from Aulps moved to a site on the eastern shore of Lake Bourget, where they established a priory, or monastery, known as Alta Comba, practising a form of life close to eremitism. Although the settlement may have been earlier, the donation of that territory to the community was confirmed in 1121.

The County of Savoy made it the burial place of many of its members. This flourishing period allowed the abbey to take part in the foundation of other establishments, such as the abbey of Fossanova (Lazio, Italy), with a dependency at Santo Stefano del Bosco (Calabria). It may also have participated in more distant and short-lived foundations, such as Sacaraz (Peloponnese) and Sanctus Angelus in Petra (Constantinople). In 1440 Duke Amadeus VIII of Savoy (1383–1451), elected pope (antipope) under the name Felix V, granted the title of abbot to Pierre Bolomier, a court official, thus inaugurating the system of commendatory abbots, which harmed the development of the house.

Today a restored monastery can be seen; the church dates from the nineteenth century and is built in Neo-Gothic style. Inside are the tombs of the House of Savoy; almost all of them also date from the nineteenth century, having been rebuilt after their destruction when the church was converted into a porcelain factory. The cloister, rebuilt in the eighteenth century, is also preserved. Older is the grange batelière, a singular structure probably dating from the mid-thirteenth century. This building allowed boats arriving at the monastery to be sheltered and goods to be stored. In the Middle Ages, a canal made it possible to navigate from the Rhône to Lake Bourget and directly to the monastery.