Clairvaux Abbey (, ; ) was a Cistercian monastery in Ville-sous-la-Ferté, from Bar-sur-Aube. The original building, founded in 1115 by St. Bernard, is now in ruins; the present structure dates from 1708. Clairvaux Abbey was a good example of the general layout of a Cistercian monastery. The abbey has been listed since 1926 as a historical monument by the French Ministry of Culture. The grounds are now occupied and used by Clairvaux Prison, a high-security prison. History In 1115 Bernard, a Benedictine monk of the Abbaye de Saint-Nicolas-lès-Cîteaux, was sent with a group of twelve other monks to found a new house at Vallée d'Absinthe. Hughes I, Count of Troyes, donated this valley to the colony of Cistercians. The Cistercians sought places both remote from the world, to be able to devote themselves to prayer, and well served by natural resources, to be entirely self-sufficient. Bernard was installed as first abbot by William of Champeaux, Bishop of Châlons-sur-Marne. Under his direction, the abbey developed rapidly. In 1118 Trois-Fontaines Abbey was founded from Clairvaux on land donated by Hugh de Vitry. It quickly became the largest Cistercian abbey in France. Foigny Abbey was founded in 1121 by Bernard and Barthélemy of Jur, bishop of Laon. Cherlieu Abbey was founded in 1131 with the support of Renaud III, Count of Burgundy. During Bernard's lifetime sixty-eight monasteries were founded from Clairvaux in France, Italy, Germany, England, Spain, and Portugal. After two centuries of fervour, Clairvaux did not escape decline. But it was one of the first to reform. In 1615, Abbot Denis Largentier restored the fasts, abstinences and other practices of the order. In 1790 Clairvaux had in affiliation in France ninety-two houses with 864 religious. This abbey had given to the Church one pope, Eugene III, fifteen cardinals, and a great number of archbishops and bishops. At the time of the Revolution Clairvaux had only 26 professed religious, counting the abbot, Dom Louis-Marie Rocourt, 10 lay brothers, and 10 affiliated pensioners of the house; 19 of the religious and all the lay brothers were secularized. Clairvaux became the property of the State, and its buildings were converted into a prison. Description Cistercian monasteries were all arranged according to a set plan unless the circumstances of the locality forbade it. A strong wall, furnished at intervals with watchtowers and other defenses, surrounded the abbey precincts. Beyond it a moat, artificially diverted from tributaries