Abbaye Notre-Dame-de-la-Joie, Hennebont

La Joie Abbey, also the Abbey of La Joie-Notre-Dame (French: Abbaye de la Joie, Abbaye de la Joie-Notre-Dame), is a former Cistercian abbey on the territory of Hennebont. It was part of the diocese of Vannes. Today, it is the site of the national stud farm. The Maison des Confesseurs has been listed as a monument historique since June 27, 1921. It is now owned by the town of Hennebont. The façades, roofs and staircases of the abbey dwelling and the façades and roofs of the outbuildings have been listed as monuments historiques since November 6, 1995.

Notre-Dame-de-Joye Abbey was founded on October 5, 1275, by Blanche de Champagne, wife of John I the Red (1217-† 1286), Duke of Brittany, and mother of John II (1239–1305), Duke of Brittany. The abbey was ravaged by fire in 1512. It was rebuilt in 1693. The abbey's 17th-century buildings include the gatehouse, the abbot's dwelling and a farm building. In the 19th century, a south wing was added to these buildings.

The site was chosen to become one of France's national stud farms. The choice was initially between the Ursulines de Pontivy enclosure, and the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Langonnet, which was chosen to become a stud farm, but the Langonnet abbey was returned to the Spiritans in 1860 when the stallion depot was moved to Hennebont, around the Abbey de la Joie.The first abbess was Sibille de Beaugé (died 1320), daughter of Renaud sire de Beaugé and Sibille de Beaujeu, and first cousin of Duchess Blanche, who occupied the abbey with sisters from the Saint-Antoine-des-Champs abbey in Paris. In 1279, however, the abbey was affiliated to L'Aumône Abbey in the diocese of Chartres, like other Breton Cistercian abbeys. The abbey was rebuilt and enlarged in the seventeenth century (1693), after a fire destroyed the church, sacristy, chapter house, dormitory above and a large part of the cloister on July 25, 1510. During the French Revolution, following the expulsion of the last abbess and nuns in October 1792, the abbey church was turned over to quarrymen. In 1835, an "iron factory" was set up in the remaining buildings (abbey dwelling, refectory, dormitories and part of the cloister). When the factory was dismantled,

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