and plants, while the lower one contains the kitchen garden growing old varieties of vegetables. The medicinal plants are laid out in beds according to their use in traditional medicine. Mill The Rule of St. Benedict insisted that mills should be installed on monastery estates. The mill of Aulps was used until 1694, when it was moved to the abbey's hamlet. It was a wheat mill coupled with a hemp beater. Water was taken several hundred metres upstream, above the estate, and was channelled through a partly visible underground masonry aqueduct in masonry, then into a wooden gully before finally falling on the wheel. Cloister The cloister was located, according to monastic tradition, south of the church. It was partly destroyed at the beginning of the 19th century, but archaeological excavations have revealed details of its layout. As elsewhere, this building consisted of a square courtyard surrounded by four covered galleries, off which opened the various usual rooms: chapter house, refectory, lavatorium and so on. Present day The old monastic farm, now restored and transformed, houses the museum of the "Domaine de Découverte de la Vallée d'Aulps". The large exhibition areas, 650 m2, explain in an easy and enjoyable way the daily lives of the monks and their role in the community, the relations between the Aulps Abbey and the Savoy region, the surprising story of the destruction of the abbey and the secrets of medicinal plants. See also List of Cistercian monasteries in France References Cistercian monasteries in France Christian monasteries established in the 11th century Buildings and structures in Haute-Savoie Monuments historiques of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Churches in Haute-Savoie Ruins in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Museums in Haute-Savoie Religious museums in France 11th-century establishments in France 1793 disestablishments in France Religious organizations established in the 1090s