Abbaye de Maillezais

Built in 1003 on an island in the Gulf of Pictons, the Benedictine Abbey burial ground of the Dukes of Aquitaine has a unique architecture in Poitou Saintonge. Scholars and artists were welcomed, including François Rabelais came in 1518. During the wars of religion, Agrippa d'Aubigné made it a Protestant stronghold. On the esplanade of the abbey is the wonder at the imposing remains of the cathedral and its seven rooms, monastic buildings well preserved as the kitchen, mess the cellar or the salt cellar.