Abbaye Notre-Dame de Sept-Fontaines de Fagnon

The Notre-Dame de Sept-Fontaines abbey is a former abbey of the Premonstratensian order, in Fagnon, in the Thiérache Ardennes, in the diocese of Reims. It was founded in 1129 by Hélie, Lord of Mézières and rebuilt in the XNUMXth century. Sold as national property, it passed through the hands of different owners before being acquired by an industrialist and passed on by inheritance to the Vendroux, Charles de Gaulle's in-laws. The latter, a young married man and young officer, stayed there several times.

The main body is a building over 60 m long, in the Louis XIII style, made of brick and stone. It consists of two floors completed by a slate roof sheltering attics, with a row of dormer windows. The central bay of this building is highlighted by a pediment. The stones outline the windows, and, under the cornice, runs a succession of diamonds, also in stone. This body of the building is flanked by two towers, one circular and the other hexagonal, all at the top of a hilly park of around sixty hectares6, decorated with trees and small ponds.