Forge, Fontenay Abbey, Cote d'Or, France

Forge, Fontenay Abbey, Marmagne, Cote d'Or, France. This Cistercian abbey was founded by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux in 1119, built in the Romanesque style. The abbey itself housed 300 monks from 1200, but was sacked during the French Revolution. The 53m water-powered forge is the oldest metallurgical factory in Europe, dating from 1220. It was recently reconstructed. The monks extracted iron ore from a nearby hill and forged iron tools to sell. The Cistercians were masters of metallurgy and invented the hydraulic hammer on this site. Here we see the oven, chimney, cupola furnace, bellows, anvil and iron beating trip hammers. Picture by Manuel Cohen

Filename

LC13_FRANCE_MC241.jpg

Copyright

© Manuel Cohen

Image Size

5616x3900 / 6.6MB

www.manuelcohen.com

12th century 13th century Abbaye de Fontenay abbey anvil architecture belief bellows Bourgogne building Burgundy catholic catholicism chimney christian christianity Cistercian color colour Cote d'Or cupola furnace Europe European factory faith Fontenay Abbey forge France French furnace hammer heritage history horizontal image indoors industry inside interior iron beating trip hammer Marmagne mediaeval medieval metallurgy middle ages monastery Montbard Order oven photograph photography reconstructed reconstruction religion Romanesque room royal abbey St Bernard of Clairvaux tool tourism tourist attraction travel UNESCO World Heritage Site work

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