Christmas at Fontevraud marks the final highlight of the four cultural seasons that shape the year at the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud. During this time of year, as the sun gives way to night and the cold blankets the vegetation in frost, the abbey lights up and fills with joy to offer visitors an enchanting Christmas. Nestled in the heart of Anjou, the Abbey of Fontevraud, with more than nine centuries of history, has lived many lives: a religious site, a prison, and then a Cultural Meeting Center. This place, steeped in memory, invites reflection on the spirit of the holiday season and its true meaning. While Christmas today tends to blur into its commercial dimension, it remains above all a symbol of hope amid darkness and of the world's enchantment. First a pagan celebration of the winter solstice, then a Christian feast, Christmas at Fontevraud is meant as an invitation to come together and share in the magic of the season.

For nearly three months, the Abbey becomes the setting for a rich artistic program that brings its most iconic spaces to life. From the Romanesque kitchens to the great refectory, by way of the choir of the abbey church, the cloister, the chapter house, and the Cour Saint-Benoît, the art trail invites visitors to marvel and rediscover the site in a new light. After nightfall, an illuminated walk highlights the gardens, while concerts punctuate the weeks of Advent.

PROGRAM:

FROM NAPLES TO FONTEVRAUD – The tradition of the Neapolitan nativity scene comes to Fontevraud
From November 29, 2025 to February 1, 2026, Abbey Church

Since 2017, the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud has hosted, each year in the choir of its abbey church, a Nativity scene designed by an artist, whether from the past or the contemporary scene. This year, the Neapolitan nativity tradition takes center stage, with a Nativity specially created for Fontevraud by several Neapolitan artists and craftspeople. A true gem of craftsmanship prized by the elite, the Neapolitan nativity scene, born in the 17th century, stands out for the sumptuousness of its sets and the richness of its characters' costumes.

BONJOUR DE LA NUIT ("Good Morning, Night")
From November 29, 2025 to February 1, 2026, cloister of the Grand-Moûtier

For the holiday season, the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud has entrusted two artists, Makiko Furuichi and Aline Gorisse, with creating an immersive work blending visual and sound art, designed to enchant visitors and highlight the site's Christmas program. Bonjour de la Nuit is an invitation to wander and daydream: a poetic experience where light, color, and sound respond to one another in a sensitive dialogue.

ASTERS – Kerwin Rolland
From November 29, 2025 to February 1, 2026, Cour Saint-Benoît

Asters was created in 2020, when Kerwin Rolland designed it for the cloister of the Grand-Moûtier as part of the 4th edition of Christmas at Fontevraud. However, the COVID pandemic prevented the public from experiencing it. In 2025, the Abbey of Fontevraud and the artist are bringing this creation back to life, specially adapted for the Cour Saint-Benoît. For this new version, Kerwin Rolland enriches his work with bell sounds he recorded with Dominique Blais as part of the project À Flot d'Airain, launched during the Voyage en Hiver program in Nantes.

A sound installation that engages in dialogue with the history of music and breathes new life into Fontevraud's thousand-year-old architecture. Broadcast through several speakers, these creations invite each visitor, as they move through the space, to compose their own sound and sensory experience.

MAISTRE DEÜ JEU – Maximilien Pellet
From November 29, 2025 to March 2, 2026, Romanesque kitchen

Made up of sculptures, bas-reliefs, and ceramic figures, this body of work lays the foundations of a medieval mythology unique to Fontevraud, blending historical and archaeological anecdotes along with the legends and speculation that have surrounded the Romanesque kitchens over the centuries. The space is punctuated by figures placed on large white brick pedestals at the center of each apsidal chapel.

ILLUMINATED GARDENS
Evening openings until 7:00 pm, from December 20, 2025 to January 4, 2026, throughout the Abbey's gardens

Every winter, for the Christmas festivities, the gardens of the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud are transformed by the hand of its gardeners. They unfold a play of lights that enhances the shapes, trees, and perspectives of the site. This lighting design reveals the timeless beauty of the site and immerses visitors in a warm, poetic, and thoroughly festive atmosphere.

LA MÉCANIQUE DE NOËL – The Christmas Table
From November 29, 2025 to March 1, 2026, great refectory

Hellène Gaulier and Gwénolé Gasnier have imagined a grand table, inspired by Christmases spent together and Christmases dreamed of elsewhere. Through a series of absurd and joyful machines, they attempt to recreate a Christmas atmosphere that is both magical and chaotic.

ONE HOUR, ONE ARTWORK, ONE WINE
Every Wednesday at 6:30 pm, from November 26 to December 17, 2025, Museum of Modern Art

The event unfolds in two parts: first, an art historian presents the artwork, followed by a winemaker or estate representative, who introduces their sparkling wines and vineyard, before sharing a tasting with the audience.

A moment that is both cultural and convivial, offering a different way to explore the collections and savor the richness of local heritage.

WINTER ATMOSPHERES AT THE FONTEVRAUD MUSEUM OF MODERN ART – A Sensory Trail
From November 29 to January 4, 2026, Museum of Modern Art

Three Christmas trees, three atmospheres, three invitations to daydream await on each floor, weaving a subtle dialogue between décor, scents, and artworks — some of them previously unseen. Each space along the trail has its own olfactory identity, resonating with the artworks to create a unique sensory stroll — a winter journey between art, fragrance, and memory.

BETWEEN SKY AND EARTH: 700 YEARS OF HISTORY AT FONTEVRAUD

At the heart of the Chauffoir room, Entre Ciel et Terre: 700 ans d'histoire à Fontevraud is a 360° animated film projection, offering viewers a true immersion into seven centuries of monastic life at the Abbey of Fontevraud.

FAMILY DAY:

ALIÉNOR'S CHRISTMAS
Saturday, December 13, 2025, 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm, Royal Abbey of Fontevraud

After the creative buzz of the art workshops and the magical drone light show of the 2024 edition of Aliénor's Christmas, the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud invites you to a new magical gathering centered on Christmas and wonder. Once again this year, the Abbey dresses itself in light and poetry to offer you a timeless winter day. Young and old alike are invited to share warm, creative moments, cradled by the unique atmosphere of the holiday season.

Program: Art workshops inspired by the colors of Fontevraud's Christmas exhibitions, Christmas carols, traditional wooden games, an escape game, and storytelling tours at the Museum of Modern Art, hands-on crafts for the youngest visitors. To close out this day full of surprises, a walkabout show will light up the eyes of young and old alike. A delicious winter-themed snack will be offered to warm hearts throughout the afternoon. All afternoon long, enjoy the gentle Christmas atmosphere enveloping the Abbey's illuminated gardens, and share a convivial moment with family or friends in a setting steeped in history.

CHRISTMAS CONCERTS:

LES ARTS FLORISSANTS – English Christmas Polyphony
Sunday, December 7, 2025, 4:00 pm, Abbey Church

Designed for the abbey church, this concert will let voices resound in all their purity and power, without instrumental accompaniment. A unique encounter between the magic of Christmas and the timeless emotion of polyphonic singing.

MACADAM ENSEMBLE – Drone Mass
Sunday, December 21, 2025, 4:00 pm, Abbey Church

Macadam Ensemble, the sole French ambassador for the choral music of Jóhann Jóhannsson, presents Drone Mass, a contemporary oratorio blending voices, string quartet, and electronics. Inspired by Gnostic manuscripts discovered in Egypt in 1945, this sacred and ritualistic work explores ancient mysteries in search of answers to universal questions. An immersive and unprecedented concert experience.