Fondation Royaumont

Fondation Royaumont (Goüin-Lang) is a French foundation established in 1964 at the Royaumont abbey. The abbey itself was founded in 1228 by the young Louis IX (the future Saint Louis) and his mother Blanche de Castille, and over the centuries it served successively as a Cistercian monastery, a textile factory, a novitiate, a war hospital, and a country residence before becoming a Centre Culturel de Rencontre. In 1905 Jules Goüin, president of the Société de Construction des Batignolles, acquired the former monastery; his grandson Henry Goüin opened its doors to artists and intellectuals in need, and in 1964 the project was made permanent as the Fondation Royaumont (Goüin-Lang) pour le progrès des Sciences de l'Homme. The site, classified as a monument historique in 1927, hosts guided visits, performances, residencies, seminars, and other cultural programming.

The Royaumont abbey was founded in 1228 by the young Louis IX (the future Saint Louis) and his mother Blanche de Castille, and this Cistercian abbey enjoyed great influence in the Middle Ages. It was sold during the Revolution and transformed into a textile factory, with its dismantled church used in the construction of a workers' village. The abbey regained its original vocation in 1869 when it welcomed the novitiate of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Bordeaux, who undertook to restore it in the neo-Gothic style. In 1905 Jules Goüin, president of the Société de Construction des Batignolles, acquired the former monastery. His grandson Henry Goüin decided to open its doors to artists and intellectuals in need, to offer the 'leisure to meditate – possibly to create – to those whom the material difficulties of life too often force to live in places devoid of beauty and poetry.' In 1964 the project was made permanent in the form of a foundation, the Fondation Royaumont (Goüin-Lang) pour le progrès des Sciences de l'Homme. Classified as a monument historique in 1927, the site has been successively a Cistercian monastery, a court abbey, an industrial site, a novitiate, a war hospital, and a country residence before becoming a Centre Culturel de Rencontre.

A Centre Culturel de Rencontre housed in a classified historic Cistercian abbey, offering cultural programming, residencies, and event hosting.

1. 1Royaumont | abbaye et fondationroyaumont.com
2. 2Histoire de l'abbaye de Royaumontroyaumont.com