History
The Old Monastery of Sainte-Croix is an exceptional heritage site. It is placed in a unique location, on a rocky spur at the entrance to the Quint valley, on the old Roman road that ran along the Drôme river. It is a link and passage between the Diois region – Die (pronounced Dee), capital of the local sparkling wine, Clairette, is 7 km away – and the Vercors, a protected nature reserve.
It was very probably founded by the Counts of Valence in the 11th century, just under their castle, the ruins of which, the Towers of Quint, still stand.
In the 13th century, the bishops of Die and Valence gave the Monastery to the congregation of St Anthony, who ran hospitals to care for those suffering from ergotism, a common medieval disease. The monks made salves, various plasters and Saint Vinage (a wine-vinegar mixture used to treat ergotism) thanks to their knowledge of plant properties… More information on the history.
More recently, in 2011, the building being quite derelict and its financial prospects at a low ebb, an association “Friends of the Monastery” was founded to manage the site and develop its cultural and touristic potential. In March 2015, the association was converted into a Cooperative Society of Collective Interest, the New Monastery SCIC, a member of the National Network of Antonine Sites.
In the 80s, the Old Monastery became an International Visitors Centre. Today, it is a place to meet or tune out, at the heart of the Biovallée.
We welcome groups in half-board or full-board accommodation, from a wide variety of backgrounds:
Artistic groups, walkers, schools of herbal studies, colleges, universities, family receptions, company seminars, training sessions of different types, including personal development…
Our guests are hosted in rooms reminiscent of their monastic origins (27 rooms with 53 beds), with quality meals prepared from local products. They can also make use of the beautiful activity rooms and the surrounding grounds: a park of 2 ha and two gardens, with collections of medicinal and aromatic plants and plants for dyeing.
The Old Monastery receives around 3000 visitors between March and November, for more than 6000 overnight stays. It proposes a high-quality cultural programme with some twenty shows and exhibitions: theatre, concerts, dance, puppet theatre…
The staff, composed of 8 people, the administrators, dedicated to their mission, local producers of Clairette, cheese, herb teas and meat, other associations, craftsmen, leisure service providers, faithful guests and clients, local councils and more than 50 supporters are engaged in an ambitious project of conservation and development, estimated to cost 1,2 million euros.
These people have come together around this project in the New Monastery SCIC, a Cooperative Society.
A real tool for local development, the project is based on four main pillars: heritage conservation, improvement of the accommodation and food offer, pursuit of the cultural programme and an opening for new economic activities.
The Society makes much of its values of participation, conviviality, cooperation and respect for the environment and engages in a “slow tourism” approach.
The Monastery is nine centuries-old lady who needs a total facelift: the buildings require attention, the roof structure is worn, there are leaks…
One major step of the project has been achieved: the renovation of the roof –timber work, covering and zinc work - thanks to a local company and a work programme with 68 volunteers between November 2016 and March 2017, involving an investment of € 240 000, covered by a loan and regional funding.
The inhabitants and local community in the Diois, Vercors, Drôme and Quint Valley, devoted to the site, have allowed it to stay open and active. But the requirements for saving this heritage site and maintaining its activity are considerable. We need you!
The Old Monastery is at a delicate phase of the project. The building itself is sound but in order to open in spring 2018 and continue receiving guests (more than 1000 people have already reserved), we must have a disabled access, required by the State for buildings open to the public.
The first demand concerns the access to the building through the main entrance and into the courtyard. At the present time, the inner courtyard is covered in rough gravel, restricting easy movement.
A structural survey has also revealed that one of the walls is damaged by water seepage and that water leaks in the cellars. These cellars are remains from the 13th century; one of them has been transformed into a concert hall and we would like to rehabilitate the others as workshops and areas for craft activities.
Another problem is that when there is heavy rainfall, water floods the corridors on the ground floor, disrupting all activities.
Pourquoi un financement participatif ?
Why participative funding?
The participative aspect is an essential part of our project. We value this approach when receiving our guests and in our collective development work.
There are many of you who wish to support us but do not always know how.
For these reasons, we have decided to start this giving campaign.
The funds received will allow us to do the urgent work required in the inner courtyard of the Monastery this winter, decorate the place while rehabilitating its historical heritage and permit the reception of the thousand people who have reserved for 2018.
By giving, you will contribute to:
- ensuring a surface suitable for vehicles in the courtyard, to enable disabled and visually-impaired people to get around.
This is the first requirement of the State’s Disabled Access Agenda.
- managing rainwater and preventing leaks: stabilising and improving the buildings, collecting the rainwater by rehabilitating a derelict tank and using it to water the gardens.
- offering a beautiful and integrated layout, recalling the history of the Monastery by :
> the choice of paving with colours similar to the walls and appropriate pointing and visually recreating the cloister that must have existed in the courtyard.
> the rehabilitation of heritage items in the courtyard: restoring the pump used for the well and water tank, and incorporating the existing trees and bushes.
The work and layout are estimated to cost:
€ 70 000, provided from the following financial contributions:
For financing the courtyard: AURA Region, Self-funding, Donations, Heritage Conservation Society *
*Société de Sauvegarde des Monuments Anciens de la Drôme
First step : € 9060
Beginning of the project, terracing work starting in December 2017.
Second step: € 15210
Setting up of the drainage system (water tank) and recycling of water (pumping system linked to the well and watering of the gardens).
Third step: € 21 210
Paving in the inner courtyard: 9500 paving stones and central coating (35 tons of gravel from a local source – La Charce).
Goal achieved: € 24 900
THANK YOU!
The following work on the inner courtyard will be undertaken: water drained and recycled, disabled access path following the cloister layout.
THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
We can pursue our project now that you have put new heart into us.
If your donations exceed € 24900:
French donors
Your donation is tax-exempt in part, as it fulfills the general conditions specified in articles 200 and 238 bis of the Tax Code. At the end of the campaign, you will receive a receipt, entitling you to a tax reduction:
By sending a cheque (made out to Patrimoine-Environnement) with your email address to the following address:
Dartagnans
Campagne Monastère de Sainte-Croix
14 rue Crespin du Gast
75011 Paris France
Ancien Monastère de Sainte-Croix, 26150 Sainte-Croix,
[email protected]
www.le-monastere.org
Facebook page
Notation Google+
•The local councils of de Vachères-en-Quint, Saint-Julien-en-Quint et Sainte-Croix • Local producers of Clairette : Achard-Vincent, Thierry Marcel, Jaillance SA • Local producers of cheese, herb teas, meat, etc… • Partners: La Carline, Teintures Naturelles, Safrantours, La Pause Bien-être, Les Sorcières du Vercors, L’âme des simples, Barbier Electricité, Solaure Conseils, Association Départs • Regular clients : Whisper Cultural Center... and more than 50 supporters. See the list of our society members
In the press
On television: the Old Monastery project was the subject of a documentary in Des Racines et des Ailes on France 3 in March 2015.
You can also see the Mir Production video of “J’irai tourner chez vous” on the Old Monastery, a video on Biovallée and radio interviews on this page.
We would like to thank all the volunteers who have been involved from the beginning of the adventure in 2011, and all our supporters who are also our loyal ambassadors.
Make our doors open in 2018 by giving!
