Châlons-en-Champagne, Ardennes 51000

A vaulted ground floor flat overlooking the main courtyard in a listed 16th century abbey in Chlons-en-Champagne. The former Toussaints Abbey, located on the edge of the historic centre, is flanked by the Place de l'Ecole des Arts and the Quai des Gaaz Arts. Part of the Order of Canons Regular of Saint Augustine, it was officially founded in 1062 on an island in the Marne on the edge of the town. It was razed to the ground in 1544 to prevent Charles V's troops from entrenching themselves there. Abbot Claude Godet then acquired a plot of land within the city walls to move his establishment there, and construction began in 1545. The congregation was dispersed in 1789, and the buildings became barracks, followed in 1790 by the Royal Artillery School, which remained there until 1803. From 1806 onwards, the building was used by Arts et Mtiers students until 1861, when the Department acquired the buildings to establish the cole normale d'instituteurs (primary school teacher training school). A major restoration campaign began in 2006 to create 34 flats with private parking spaces. The facades and roofs are listed as Historic Monuments. Built of chalk, on two floors set under slate roofs with stone dormer windows, the former abbey is made up of three angled wings forming a U shape with a large courtyard that opens onto the Place de l'Ecole des Arts through a stone porch bearing the inscription 'Ecole Normale Primaire' and topped by a richly carved triangular pediment. The flat is on the ground floor, to the left of the former chapter house, which still has its stained glass windows and is topped by a slightly projecting porch with columns and a triangular pediment sculpted with a salamander, the emblem of Franois the First.