The Priory of Val des Nymphes is located in the town of La Garde-Adhémar, in the department of Drome, 20 km south of Montelimar, on the left bank of the Rhone.
It remains only a superb chapel of the twelfth century considered a remarkable testimony of Provencal Romanesque art, marked by ancient and Roman influences. It was formerly part of a priory dependent Benedictines Tournus founded in the eleventh century.
The religious gradually abandoned him to join the nearby village, with a fortified enclosure.
Abandoned after the Revolution, the listed chapel since 1889 was restored in 1991.
We note in particular its superb facade with a triplet, set of three bays symbolizing the Holy Trinity. The central bay is decorated with an oculus and is framed by fluted pilasters (striated). On the portal, a carved frieze draws the eye and at the apse, whose vault is in cul-de-four, two rows of arcades rest on nicely carved capitals.
In addition to the building itself, the site of Val des Nymphes is worth the detour. Dotted with sources, place of worship since Antiquity, it contains some vestiges of the old convent and the tombs of the high Middle Ages. When the chapel is reflected in the small pond that adjoins it, the Val des Nymphes is synonymous with small paradise...
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