What is an Abbey?

An abbey is a group of buildings in the same area and surrounding a church. These buildings serve as community housing for monks, nuns, and other pious people.

Abbeys were not just suddenly created. In ancient Egypt, people would build their dwellings around a person known for holiness. These people would live in this single person's way of life. These communities grew into organized communities that would minister to others.

An abbey will often appear as a fortified religious city. It is common for an abby to contain gardens, mills, stables, and workshops.

Abbeys are built to provide segregation between monks or nuns and brothers or sisters.

As abbeys became more popular, they would contain infirmaries, dining halls, and libraries.

As various orders of monks existed, each has their own architectural style of abbey. These may have been Cistercian, Carthusian, Baroque, or a variety of any other style.

Many times older structures are rebuilt causing abbeys to have a variety of architectural styles.

Some famous abbeys are Fossanuova, Clairvaux, Fountains, Westminster, and Cluny.