Friday 12 June, 10:00

June 2026

Friday 12
- 10:00 - 16:30

Prieuré médiéval et moderne de la Butte-Saint-Louis

Fontainebleau

Seine-et-Marne

Île-de-France

Excavation site visit

Name: Excavation site visit
Start: 2026-06-12T10:00:00+02:00
End: 2026-06-12T16:30:00+02:00
Location: Prieuré médiéval et moderne de la Butte-Saint-Louis

European days of Archaeology

Friday 12 June, 10:00

Open day of the archeological excavation site of the priory of Butte-Saint-Louis. Free entry and guided tour by the excavation team.

June 2026

Friday 12
- 10:00 - 16:30

Additionnal information

Type d'événement

Porte ouverte

Spécificités

Ouverture exceptionnelle

Je déclare avoir les droits pour diffuser ce visuel et consent à sa diffusion par des tiers sur tout support, conformément aux CGU

Conditions de participation

Gratuit, Sans réservation

Type de public

Tout public

About the location

Prieuré médiéval et moderne de la Butte-Saint-Louis

Fontainebleau

Seine-et-Marne

Île-de-France

The hermitage of Butte-Saint-Louis, perched on its residual limestone hill, is one of the emblematic sites of the history of the Fontainebleau forest. For this reason, it has been selected by the National Forestry Office to be valued under the Forest of Exception® label that the Massif has enjoyed since 2012\. The archeological excavation of the hermitage has established itself as an essential prerequisite for a quality enhancement, in order to uncover the buried remains of the establishment and reveal the history and life of the place and its occupants. The local historical context and the general historiography of medieval and modern hermitages very quickly highlighted the interest of excavating the site. If eremitism has numerous and detailed historical studies, Western eremitic establishments are very poorly documented by archeology. Being here a priory-hermitage dependent, in the Middle Ages, on an abbey of regular canons, its excavation could allow to know more about this type of establishment and to define its characters. To carry out these investigations, the NFB and the Department of Seine-et-Marne joined forces in scheduled excavations. After a first survey conducted in 2017 to diagnose the stratigraphic potential of the site, six excavation campaigns have been conducted since 2019 with the help of archeology students. A chapel and adjoining building were built in the first decades of the 11th century. This establishment will be invested by a small community of hermit brothers in the last quarter of the 12th century. Work was then undertaken and a cemetery developed during the 13th century. The end of the Middle Ages recorded a marked decline in occupation, probably in connection with the misfortunes of time. However, important works modified the place at that time. The hermitage was reinvested in the 16th century at a time when the whole kingdom was experiencing a major revival of eremitism. Hermits follow one after the other and some are buried in the chapel. The few elements of tableware dating back to that time let us glimpse a certain comfort of life.
Throughout the occupation, the chapel was open to the faithful, as evidenced by the development and maintenance of a chancel between the nave and the liturgical choir. The multiple repairs of the floors in the seventeenth century testify to the intensity of this attendance which reminds us that a very followed pilgrimage took place to Saint-Louis on the Butte. This pilgrimage is the eremitic occupation of the place will end after the assassination of the last hermit in 1699 and the royal decision to raze the establishment two years later.

June 2026

Besichtigung der Ausgrabungsstätte

Excavation site visit

Visita al sito di scavo

Visite de chantier de fouille

Visita al sitio de excavación

June 2026