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Abbaye de Talloires, 
a thousand years of history

The privileged site of Talloires has been inhabited since Antiquity—perhaps even earlier. We know in particular that the via consularis linking Milan to Strasbourg reached Geneva via Faverges, skirting the lake along one shore or the other.Queen Theutberga had a cella built there, a modest religious establishment around which monks settled, giving rise to the monastery. In the 17th century, the abbey was ravaged by fire twice. Rebuilt, it was elevated to the rank of Royal Abbey in 1674 by a papal brief from Pope Clement X. In 1681, construction began on the current buildings, as attested by the date engraved on the entrance door.
After the French Revolution, the monastery successively became a wine estate, then a coaching inn around 1840. In 1862, it was transformed into an inn, thus becoming the first hotel-restaurant on the shores of Lake Annecy. Even today, the abbey preserves precious traces of its past, such as the cloister, the gallery leading to the former monks’ cells, and the Prior’s Room.



Lothaire II

Talloires entered history in 866, during the reign of Lothair II—great-great-grandson of Charlemagne—when he repudiated his first wife, Theutberga, and ordered her to reside in Talloires. She lived there until her death and, during this long exile, had a cella built on the site of the future abbey: a modest religious foundation consisting of a chapel and a few shelters intended to welcome wandering monks.

RuDOLPH III 
& ERMENGARDE

One hundred and fifty years later, the Talloires estate was granted to the Benedictine Abbey of Savigny, near Lyon, by the King and Queen of Burgundy, Rudolph III and Ermengarde. The first prior, Germain, built within a few years—helped by the inhabitants of Talloires—a large church on the site of Theutberga’s cella, then in ruins. Now vanished, it was the monastery’s first major building.


Alongside it, other buildings intended to house the monks quickly rose, set within the remarkable landscape of Talloires Bay, framed by the surrounding mountains.


the revolution

The Revolution did not reach Talloires until July 1792. The bell tower of the abbey church was destroyed—tradition has it that its bells still rest at the bottom of the lake—and archives nearly seven hundred years old were consigned to the flames in a massive bonfire built on Place des Marronniers.


The abbey’s ruins were finally demolished in 1833.

paul cézanne

After a few decades of neglect, Talloires found new momentum when the beauty of its setting drew a circle of artists, writers, and travellers in search of a retreat. One, then two inns opened by the lakeside, welcoming visitors arriving by boat from Annecy.

clement X

In 1674, a papal brief from Pope Clement X elevated the distinguished priory to the status of Royal Abbey. This period nonetheless marked the beginning of a slow decline: the monks, having become true feudal lords, led an opulent lifestyle that fuelled a spirit of revolt among the local population.


The remains still visible today bear witness to this era—both prestigious and contrasted—whose imprint remains deeply embedded in the abbey’s history.

From the 21st century
to the present day

It was at the beginning of this century that Talloires’ reputation took on an international dimension, driven by the beauty of its setting, the quality of its gastronomy, and the excellence of its welcome.