Abbey of Bevaix

9 February 2021

The Abbey of Cluny is never far away in Switzerland. A large farmhouse in Bevaix (canton of Neuchâtel) was a centuries-old abbey.

In 998, Rodolphe III (966-70-1032), the last king of the kingdom of Burgundy, donated the church of St. Peter (Saint-Pierre), ten farms and forty serfs and their families to the abbey of Cluny.

The priory of Saint-Pierre was later subordinated to the priory of Romainmôtier, also an abbey of Cluny. The Romanesque abbey church was built in the 12th century.

In the 15th century, however, monastic life in Bevaix no longer met expectations. In 1427, for example, visitors of the Abbey of Cluny were surprised when they met the prior, Jacques de Giez and his wife and four children.

The priory complex at Bevaix was dismantled in the 17th century and subsequently converted into a farm. The inhabitants of the village built a Protestant church (Le Temple) in the centre in 1604 and used materials from the old church. 

The temple features several Catholic symbols, including the Romanesque frieze, the key with a lamb of God, the choir, and the tabernacle.

(Source: Chr. Voros, Sites clunisiens en Europe, Cluny, 2013).