L ABBAYE DE PONTLEVOY - Paris, France 

L ABBAYE DE PONTLEVOY details:  Founded in 1034, The Chateau Loire is a National Historic Monument nestled in the heart of the Loire Valley, one of Europes premier destinations, in the quaint French village town of Pontlevoy. Montrichard, the towns neighboring village, is served by a fast train that connects with the French bullet train-TGV, making a trip to or from Paris a matter of only 90 minutes duration. Centrally located, Pontlevoy is also within easy reach of the beautiful Loire river village, Blois, and the regions major city, Tours. Nearly 1000 years in the making, the history of Chateau Loire dates back to its foundation in 1034 A.D. by the crusader Count Gueldin de Chaumont. Returning by boat from a voyage to the holy lands, Gueldin, as legend has it, prayed to the Virgin Mary to save him during a life threatening storm out in the high seas. In gratitude and honor to his savior, Gueldin dedicated a vast tract of land to the Benedictine monks. Over the course of the following two centuries, Chateau Loire gained international stature as a Benedictine refuge with prosperous times leading the monks to plan and begin construction of a full cathedral. A long epoch of instability and warfare which followed, however, would ultimately burn the noble edifice and destroy what had become one of central Frances greatest ecclesiastical libraries. Sixteenth-century leadership under Cardinal Richelieu and others reoriented the educational mission of The Abbey, as it became one of Frances several royal military academies. This shift in mission spurred the erection of the campus great central building, which has stood since the 1600s as a dominating structure of more than 90,000 square feet. Used over the last four centuries as a school for veterans, affluent educators, and others, the Chateau Loire was stewarded through most of its history by the families de Vibraye and de Sigala.