Abbaye de Graville

Abbaye de Graville (Abbey of Graville) is an abbey located in the city of Le Havre, in the Normandy region of France. The architectural complex was founded in the 11th century and consists of a church, conventual buildings, a refectory, a cloister, a garden, and a cemetery. Nowadays, one of the departments of the Museum of Art and History of Le Havre (Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Havre) is located in the Abbey.

The Abbey is situated in the estuary of the River Seine between the historical center of Le Havre and the town of Harfleur. Its history goes back to the end of the Merovingian epoch in the middle of the 6th century, when hermits were living in the cliffs. Their mission was to promote Christianity in remote areas of Normandy on behalf of the clergy of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Bayeux, which was one of the religious centers (together with Rouen) in Normandy. Around that time, the hermits were also joined by the Augustines from the monastery of Sainte Barbe, thus contributing to the establishment of a christian community in Graville. Viking raids in the ninth century meant the relics of Sainte Honorine were transported from Graville Abbey to Conflans, which became Conflans-Sainte-Honorine in the Paris region, safer by virtue of its southeasterly location. The monks also attempted to move their archives and monastic libraries to the south, but several were burned by the Vikings. Between the 10th and 11th centuries, the reconstruction of the building of the Abbey was completed on the hill where the hermits used to live. Finally, the Abbey was founded in the 11th century, supposedly in 1203, by Guillaume Mallet, a companion of William the Conqueror, right after his return from the battle of Hastings. The construction of the Romanesque Abbey was funded on the basis of the tribute that he received both in Normandy and England. Since then, the Abbey had been under the auspices of the noble family of Malet de Graville. Later, the heart of one of the descendants of the family, Louis Malet de Graville (1440–1516), an Admiral of France, was placed in the Abbey as a symbol of connection between the family and the Abbey.

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