The cloister museum of the Abbey of Saint-André-le-Bas, in Vienne, in Isère, was created in 1938.
Founded in the 7th century, the abbey was one of the most important of the diocese of Vienne during the Middle Ages. During the Revolution, the conventual buildings were seized and then sold. The cloister and the abbey church are the only evidence of the whole.
Romanesque in style, dating from the 12th century (modified in the 15th century for the cloister but retaining their original decorations), they were restored from 1920 to 1938: on that date, under the impetus of a local company (Friends of Vienne), a museum is open at the level of the cloister. Again restored in 2011, equipped with a modern museography, the establishment first presents the admirable capitals of the site itself. They are adorned with floral decorations, figurative decorations, but also bands of pillars and small columns. There is also a collection of funerary inscriptions, another of obituary plaques (recalling the donation of a deceased in exchange for which the monastery undertook to say a mass for him, on each anniversary of his death) and finally, are to see the columns of the bell tower of the abbey which were deposited in 1982. They present very worked decorations.
Since 2011, the museum has also included three rooms preceding the entrance to the cloister, where temporary exhibitions are held.
Open all year except Mondays, January 1, November 11 and December 25. Price: 2 and 3 euros. Information on +33 4 74 78 71 06.
