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18th century wing

view from the garden of the 17th century wing of the abbey

In the 17th century, Abbey Escaladieu experiences a new internal organisation: the commendature. Control is then entrusted to a commendatory abbot, appointed by royal authority, who is not resident there, resulting in a less strict observance of the rules during that period.
If the system of the Commende plays sometimes a destabilising role on the spiritual level, it also leads to architectural changes in Escaladieu. In the 18th century, a new wing is constructed on the north-east side, providing apartments for commendatory abbots. On the first floor of the wing was a large square salon and a gallery opening on 5 other salons, all generously lit by the large bays and bull’s eye windows.

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The stucco

Stucco decorations start developing above fireplaces. Far removed from the precepts of the first Cistercians, these decorations borrow from the old-style vocabulary ubiquitous in the interior decor of the eighteenth to the nineteenth centuries: fluted pilasters topped with Corinthian capitals, Diana the Huntress …

view of the stucco above the fireplace in the salon on the first floor of the 17th century wing.