An abbey with eight lives

The lineage is older than the walls. The original Clairefontaine was established near Arlon in 1247 as the burial church of the comital family of Luxembourg and was burnt out during the French Revolution. The community that arrived at Cordemois in 1933 had been founded at La Cour Pétral in 1845 and came back to the Ardennes to revive the title — part of the same monastic renewal that rebuilt Orval a few kilometres to the south. Set in a deep meander of the Semois, the site fits the Cistercian taste for solitude inside a wild landscape.↗↗↗

In 2016 the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance announced the abbey's closure. A handful of nuns refused to leave, and after nearly eight years of negotiation a 2024 accord allowed them to continue a religious life on the same grounds under the new name Abbaye Notre-Dame de Cordemois, now under the Diocese of Namur. Visitors today find an unusually intact living monastery rather than a museum piece.↗↗

What to look for in the church and cloister

Henri Vaes drew up the plans between 1930 and 1935, blending pointed Gothic arches with a thoroughly modern reinforced-concrete structure. The building climbs the slope around a square cloister, dressed in pale plaster and local slate, with the tall vaults meant to read as hands joined in prayer. The schist Pont de la Poulie at the entrance to the site was raised at the same moment.↗↗↗

Inside, the abbey church is lit by stained glass by Yoors, Colpaert, Jacques de Géradon and Géo De Vlamynck, and the cloister leading up to the church carries frescoes by artists including Jan Huet and Guillemine Capart-Vaes; De Vlamynck also painted frescoes and glass for the campanile. The church is open to the public during the day, except Mondays.↗↗↗

Singing the hours, or simply sitting in silence

The day at Cordemois is shaped by the Office. Public times are roughly: Lauds at 07:00, the weekday Eucharist at 08:45 (Sunday Mass around 10:30–11:00), None at 14:45, sung Vespers at 18:00 and Compline at 20:00, with Vigils at 05:00 on Sundays and solemnities. Vespers is the easiest evening office for a visitor to drop into, and the Sunday morning liturgy gives the best feel of the community at prayer.↗↗

Those who want more than a visit can write ahead to book time in the abbey's guesthouse (hôtellerie), which welcomes individuals and small groups for silent retreats most of the year except January. Because it is a cloistered community, access is limited to the church, cloister, shop and guesthouse — the living quarters stay private.↗↗↗

The monastic shop: biscuits and a little art

Cordemois is known across the province of Luxembourg for its baking. The shop sells the nuns' own butter biscuits, cramiques (the rich fruit loaves associated with Liège), craquelins, cakes and bread made in the abbey's biscuiterie and boulangerie, alongside work from their atelier — silk painting and ceramics. There is also a selection of products from other monasteries in Belgium, France and Germany, plus religious books and recordings.↗↗↗↗

Opening hours follow a monastic rhythm rather than a tourist one: typically Tuesday to Sunday afternoon, 14:00–17:00 (until 16:30 in November and December), closed on Mondays and with shorter winter afternoons. Arrive early in the window if you want the cramiques, which can sell out by mid-afternoon.↗↗↗

Putting it in the wider Semois day

The abbey sits on the valley road from Bouillon, about three kilometres downstream of the town, so it slots easily into a day in the Semois loop: the castle of Bouillon, the viewpoints above the river meanders, and the villages of Corbion and Rochehaut are all close by. From the wooded slopes across the bend, you can see the abbey roofline rising through the trees.↗↗↗

Visiting notes

Address: Cordemois 1, 6830 Bouillon, Province of Luxembourg, Belgium. The abbey is reached by the valley road that loops out of Bouillon toward the Semois meanders. Entering the church is free; the shop and guesthouse have their own arrangements, so contact the community directly before travelling for a stay.↗↗↗

Treat it as a working monastery: keep voices low, switch phones off in the church, and follow the posted notices if a liturgy is in progress. Opening times and shop hours shift seasonally and have changed during the recent transition from Clairefontaine to Cordemois, so a quick call or email before setting out is well worth it.↗↗