of Bernay and France's national 'Monuments historiques'. A very fine 12th century arch (probably from the chapter house) was uncovered and in 1965 the capitals of the south transept were rediscovered. Another restoration occurred in 1978, revealing the building's importance to the study of 11th century architecture. Abbey church Built at a time when the duchy had not yet really discovered in its way, the Bernay Abbey represents an almost isolated attempt, prepared by a single surviving precedent, the Saint-Pierre church of the Jumièges Abbey, as a little bit premature work of talented minds and evidence of innovative traits decisive for Norman architecture: the adoption of the stepped bedside, composite stacks and the passageway at the upper level of the transept arm is. Most of the solutions of the architectural or decorative details appear without obvious ancestry and without obvious posterity, perhaps they were Burgundian imports, which were badly assimilated, but with a local rooting of traditions born at the end of the Merovingian period on the soil of the future Normandy, preserved and deepened under the Carolingians and having managed to survive the ravages of the Vikings. References Benedictine monasteries in France