Exhibition - "Focus Abondance: an abbey in the light of its rediscovered parchments

When the art of photography meets history, the Abbey of Abondance and its outbuildings reveal their metamorphoses.

From May 5 to November 30, 2025, the exhibition “Focus Abondance : une abbaye à la lumière de ses parchemins retrouvés” invites you on a journey to the heart of Abondance Abbey and its outbuildings, thanks to the artistic vision of photographer Jean Marc Kuntz and the enlightened knowledge of historian Arnaud Delerce. Together, they reveal the rich heritage of this emblematic site and the places linked to it in Savoie, Switzerland and Franche-Comté. Through the lens of Jean Marc Kuntz, the Abbey of Abondance and its outbuildings are revealed from unprecedented angles: plays of light and shadow sublimate the architecture, while unexpected details emerge to tell a thousand-year-old story. These images invite us to discover a network of sites where religious history is set in a landscape of striking beauty. Arnaud Delerce's texts, complemented by these images, offer a precise and captivating historical perspective. They reveal the daily life of the monks, the organization of the estates, and the intimate link between these places and the surrounding territories. The exhibition also offers a contemporary perspective: discovering what these places have become today. What remains of their original vocation? How have these sites evolved into the modern world, while retaining some of their historic soul? A double reading that enriches the experience and offers a journey through past and present. A dialogue between art and history, in which every photograph and every story pays tribute to the Abbey of Abondance and its influence in neighboring regions.