The East wing of the Abbey
Urgent restoration and response to priority needs
Accidentally destroyed in the 19th century, the extremity of this building, of Maurist architecture, must imperatively be consolidated. The choice was made to extend it to create new essential spaces…
With your help,
this large-scale project could be carried out in successive stages, in order to create two major installations
A library
The current Abbey’s library is now overloaded. The new books must now be stored in unsuitable places, and the new book donations must be refused.
A library will be created to house and preserve in better conditions the rich collection of nearly 200,000 works. Composed of old manuscripts and rare books, but also works on theology, exegesis, patrology, scholasticism, secular sciences, fine arts, French or foreign literature, history of religions, philosophy, history… the library of Saint-Wandrille is an invaluable treasure which must be preserved, in order to transmit to future generations the centuries-old wisdom of the monks.
Examples of rare manuscripts: Processional of Silos from the 14th century, Breviary of the Holy Sepulcher – 15th century (loaned to the Louvre for an exhibition), four 14th-century Ambrosian antiphonaries, an important collection on the history of Normandy…
An infirmary
The current infirmary, on the first floor, is old and ill-adapted. A new, more modern and functional infirmary will be installed in this new building to ensure better care for our elderly brothers and to enable them to end their life in the monastery. The care is provided by the monks.
This infirmary will have an elevator, so that the elderly brothers can participate as much as possible in the life of the community.
An architectural challenge
An exciting project that will be long-lasting and leave a lot of room for creativity. Even if modern technical solutions will be used, the exterior aspect of the building will copy the XVIIth-century look, in order to complete harmoniously the existing span. For instance, the openings will reproduce the XVIIth-century design, but will embed thermically optimized metallic parts, with a modern look.