It was one of those perfect sunday mornings in July where I could sit out on my balcony and hear the birds 
chirp rather than being drowned out by traffic. The bells of our parish church down the street rang loud and clear calling the faithful to 11am mass.
However delightful it can be suspended 8 floors up over the Parisians rooftops, surrounded by my riot of colourful flowers, the bucolic delights of the country side was beckoning me even more. I love visiting old abbeys, especially those in ruins, as I often find a mystical quality circulating amongst the ancient stones.
Abbaye Royale de Chaalis was one that I had wanted to visit, but somehow had never been. It has a rich history, not only of being a monastery, but later a château.
Perhaps even more interesting, at least to me, is how this magnificent ancient abbey is woven into the fabulous fairy tale destiny of a little girl of modest origins, who later became a wealthy Parisian socialite, that ended up buying the entire estate!
The little girl in question is Cornelia Barbe Hyacinthe Jacquemart, who later preferred to be known as Nélie Jacquemart André. Her fabulous Parisian mansion is now a museum called the Musée Jacquemart-André.
The Musée Jacquemart Andre, is a true gem seemingly little known to tourists but beloved by many Parisians. Even less known, is the fact that little Nélie, born in July, 1841, spent most of her childhood playing around the vast grounds of Chaalis monastery, which was at that time, the Chateau de Vatry.
The Baronne and Baron de Vatry had bought the old monastery in 1850 and had turned it into their country home. Both were illustrious noble elites who lived primarily in Paris and at another château nearby.
Cornelia’s mother just happened to work for Madame de Vatry and her father, who was from the village of Chaalis, was the right hand man of Baron de Vatry.
It became Nélie’s good fortune, that Madame de Vatry, who never had children of her own,took a special interest in her and saw to it that she had the best education. This included giving Nélie art lessons and exposing her to the elite artistic community in Paris.
She eventually became a portraitist of the Parisian elite and noble. Her second good fortune was being chosen to paint the portrait of Edouard André, who came from a wealthy line of protestant bankers.
He was said to have been a dashing and well sought after bachelor, who was 40 when he met Nélie. Their friendship slowly blossomed into a mutually deepened relationship, that some felt was precipitated by Edouard’s need for companionship as he was in poor health.
Nine years later, her greatest fortune happened when Edouard and Nélie were married. Both became passionate collectionners of art and spent the rest of their lives amassing art from all over the world, but especially from Italy.
They traveled to Italy each year and would bring back hundreds of exquisite art and furniture, which is now considered one of the best examples of Italian art in France. After Edouard’s death, Nélie traveled to India and Burma to add to their vast possession.
While on a trip, she heard that her old childhood playground was up for sale and immediately went about buying it with the fortune that she now had. I can only imagine the wonderful feelings she must have had in being able to buy the very abbey and château that she had so loved, that earlier had been totally out of her reach and an impossible dream!
Their magnificent art collection is now showcased in their Paris mansion, the Jacquemart-André museum and to a lesser extent at the Abbaye Royale de Chaalis.
The abbey is about 50 kilometers north of Paris, nestled on the edge of the Ermenoville national forest. It was officially founded in 1136, but there had been a community of monks there many years earlier.
Before you arrive, the drive takes you through golden wheat fields and tiny cute villages that surround the Parisian basin. The entire estate is outlined by water filled moats, that at one time served not only as protection but fed the abbey’s ponds where they monks raised fish.
It was a very prominent monastery that had a monumental gothic church, where unfortunately very little remains except a hauntingly beautiful ornate facade, and a lovely small chapel. Parts of the monks quarters was renovated and now serves as the museum.
After the revolution, with the monks chased away, the abbey was divided into parcels and sold as possessions of the state. It is hard to fathom, that this once magnificent church was chipped down and its precious stones sold as quarry.
There is now only a few stubbles of the once massive pillars that supported a church over 90 meters long! I liked touching these ancient stones as I walked around feeling sad for such lost and faded grandeur.
The northern facade is richly ornate and was said to have been in part the sacristy. At least a multitude of birds now call it home amongst the curved gothic ceiling which makes a perfect place for nests.
The loud and haunting wooing of pigeons now replaces the sacred chanting of the monks. It may be a wonderful courting melody for the pigeons but it sounded mournful to my ears and made for a very appropriate musical elegy for the majesty lost.
The chapel, constructed in the 13 th century is adorably sweet with lovely filigree stain glass windows framing a beautiful fresco ceiling of celestial beings. There I found two very unusual artifacts never seen before in other churches.
One, was a small marble frieze of Mother Mary holding baby Jesus with the Star of David above her head. I thought how enlightening fresh the sculptor must have been to include this monumental tribute and truth to her and Jesus, reminding us of the Jewish origins of them both.
The other was a gargoyle of a snail! How adorable and how unusual it was to see those very cute little tentacles reaching out into the blue sky, as if calling the divine. Did they realise back then that a snail’s shell is symbolic of the sacred mysteries hidden and replicated to infinitum.
The rosarie or rose and flower garden is sumptuously romantic. It use to be the monks cemetery, so it seems fitting that the grounds are now adorned with perfumed roses and other colourful flowers to honor their souls.
The abbey celebrates roses with a special celebration each June, when they are at their height of loveliness. Likewise each year, a rose is named after Nélie in her honour.
The partial remains of the monks living quarters, that was at one time connected to the church is now a huge rectangular building with gothic molded ceilings downstairs and constitutes the museum, which I highly recommend visiting. The building is magnificent and holds fascinating art from some of Nélie and Edouard Andre’s collection.
The massive chimney dominates the main entrance, which is believed to have been the monastery’s kitchen and bakery. Multiple rooms lined the main gothic ceiling corridor with huge windows towards the main church ruins with graceful wrought iron staircases.
The front windows give way to the vast green parks and water basin that extends north. To the side of the main building is the pretty and long stable semi hidden amongst tall trees. Part of it, now house the ateliers of perfume that the abbey offers for a mere two euros extra.
It was a wonderfully interesting initiation into the art of blending essential oils to make perfumes. First we were invited to walk around four tables, each holding vials of essential oils and to try to guess what they were, before looking under the hidden label.
Since there were well over 60 or so scents, we were advised to put our noses up to the task to only two tables, or risk olfactory overload! Not an easy thing to do except for a few very representative smells such as cinnamon and mint!
Next, we were seated with a row of holders representing top notes, heart notes and base notes. The directrice handled scents from each category that could be used to fabricate a perfume.
The best part of that each of us was given a vial of the scents we favoured in a small atomizer to take home. They essential oils had been placed in alcohol that we were told needed at least three weeks to develop the aroma of our individualised perfumes.
There is also an herbal garden in front that offers pinching and sniffing to your heart’s delight, as both Madame de Vatry and Nélie Jacquemart André had a passion for botanicals and perfumes.
Nellie grew up a fervent Catholic, who in looking at her collection of religious art, had a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. I would like to think that the souls of all those monks who walked those sacred grounds of Chaalis long before her, took delight in her childhood antics and faith and all pulled together to bring her back to her beloved Chaalis.
She spent her last days on earth there in all of its splendor and keeping with her generous spirit bequeathed Abbaye de Chaalis and her Paris mansion to the Institute of France upon her death in 1912, so that all of us could enjoy her magnificent art and abbey.