On the outskirts of modern Saint-Remy-de-Provence as well as the outskirts of the late Roman town of Glanum, the Abbey of St Paul de Mausole is known to us mostly as the mental hospital where Vincent van Gogh chose to spend a year near the end of his life, alternately working frantically and unable to work.
And, it is a beautiful site in itself: not large or overwhelming, but quiet and well-ordered. And some of these scenes are also recognizable in the paintings Van Gogh made there.
But it has a longer history; built in Romanesque style during the middle ages on an earlier church site, it gets its name (St Paul of the Mausoleum) from tombs in nearby Glanum, now an archaeological site.
Eventually, its community of monks became known for caring for mental cases, and when it was nationalized and sold during the French Revolution, it was bought by a Dr. Mercurin, who continued its work; it’s still in use today.
