Montmajour Abbey

Montmajour Abbey, known in French as Abbaye de Montmajour, is a former Benedictine monastery on a rocky hill approximately four kilometres north-east of Arles in Provence, France. The abbey was founded in 948 on a site that had already been used as a burial ground since antiquity and was then surrounded by marshland, effectively making the hill an island. The earliest surviving monastic structure is the semi-troglodyte Saint-Pierre Hermitage, partly cut directly into the rock. Montmajour reached its height during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, when possession of a relic believed to be a fragment of the True Cross made it an important pilgrimage destination and the abbey controlled more than fifty dependent priories. This period produced the Romanesque abbey church of Notre-Dame, its crypt, the richly sculpted cloister and the nearby Sainte-Croix Chapel. Following attacks and instability during the fourteenth century, the complex was fortified with defensive walls and the massive Pons de l’Orme Tower. Benedictine monks of the Congregation of Saint-Maur later constructed a new neoclassical monastery during the eighteenth century, much of which was dismantled after the French Revolution when the abbey was sold as national property. The medieval buildings were protected as a Monument historique in 1840, helping preserve a complex that today contains almost a thousand years of Provençal monastic, military and architectural history.

Montmajour Abbey has appeared in The Lion in Winter (1968), Mystère (2007), Inquisitio (2012) and The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon (2023–). The Lion in Winter (1968) makes particularly extensive use of the complex as Chinon Castle, combining genuine interiors and exteriors at Montmajour with sets and other historic locations in France, Ireland and Wales. The French mystery series Mystère (2007) later used the abbey during the closing part of its supernatural story, while Inquisitio (2012) incorporated Montmajour into its large collection of genuine medieval locations. In The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon (2023–), the abbey becomes part of the fictional Abbey of Saint Bernadette, the religious community where Daryl first meets Isabelle and Laurent after arriving in France.

In The Lion in Winter (1968), Montmajour Abbey represents much of Chinon Castle, where King Henry II gathers his imprisoned wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, their sons Richard, Geoffrey and John, and the young King Philip II of France for Christmas in 1183 while the family fights over the succession to the English throne. The abbey is introduced in atmospheric morning views of the supposedly sleeping castle, followed by shots of its bell tower as the court begins to wake. Henry and his mistress Alais later appear on the battlements when Eleanor’s approaching boat is announced, while other Montmajour areas are used as members of the royal family move through Chinon and continue their increasingly bitter political manoeuvring. The production did considerably more than simply photograph the existing ruins. Art director Peter Murton’s team added façades, walls, arches and doorways to Montmajour, with contemporary reports estimating around $100,000 was spent adapting the abbey for the film. Some apparent Chinon locations were nevertheless created elsewhere: the principal courtyard was a set at Ardmore Studios in Ireland, while Eleanor’s arrival by boat was filmed beside the Château de Tarascon on the Rhône. Montmajour remains the defining exterior of Chinon and also supplied genuine interior material, making it one of the most important physical locations in the film.

In Mystère (2007), Montmajour Abbey appears during the later stages of the twelve-part French television mystery surrounding Laure de Lestrade and the disappearance of her mother Anne. The series gradually moves from an investigation involving crop circles, missing people and a secret military programme into revelations concerning implants and apparent extraterrestrial contact. Montmajour was among the numerous locations used throughout Provence for the final part of the story, its isolated ruins providing one of the series’ more imposing settings as Laure’s investigation approaches its conclusion. The production was filmed extensively around the Bouches-du-Rhône and Vaucluse regions, with Montmajour appearing alongside locations including Les Baux-de-Provence, Silvacane Abbey and the Sainte-Victoire area.

In Inquisitio (2012), Montmajour Abbey is incorporated into the medieval world of the eight-part historical thriller set during the fourteenth century. The story follows Grand Inquisitor Guillermo Barnal and physician Nicolas Eymerich against the background of the papal conflict between Avignon and Rome, while an outbreak of plague and a series of religious murders feed a wider political conspiracy. The production was shot almost entirely in historic locations across southern France rather than relying heavily on studio sets, with Montmajour providing genuine monastic architecture alongside the Palais des Papes in Avignon, the Château de Tarascon, Fort Saint-André, the Chartreuse du Val-de-Bénédiction and several medieval towns and fortresses. Its cloisters, stone passages and religious architecture allowed the series to place its ecclesiastical characters within a surviving medieval environment rather than a constructed imitation.

In The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon (2023–), Montmajour Abbey forms a major part of the fictional Abbey of Saint Bernadette in the first-season premiere, «L’âme Perdue» (2023). After being wounded by a corrosive variant of walker known as a burner, Daryl Dixon loses consciousness and wakes inside the abbey, where a community of nuns led by Mother Superior Véronique has treated his injury. Sister Isabelle introduces him to Laurent, a boy whom the religious group believes may be destined to lead humanity towards renewal, and tries to persuade Daryl to escort him north. Daryl initially refuses and leaves, but returns after Stéphane Codron and his armed Guerriers arrive searching for the American responsible for the death of Codron’s brother. The encounter erupts into a violent battle around the abbey, leaving most of the nuns dead and convincing Daryl to travel with Isabelle, Laurent and Sylvie. Montmajour supplies the imposing exterior and parts of the monastery environment, while other historic sites, including the Couvent des Prêcheurs in Aix-en-Provence and the Château des Baux-de-Provence, were combined with it to create the complete Abbey of Saint Bernadette. The production spent several days and nights filming at Montmajour in December 2022, turning the thousand-year-old monastery into one of the first major locations encountered by Daryl after his arrival in France.

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