Fontevraud - Brand Design

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INTRODUCING FONTEVRAUD...

AT THE MEETING POINT OF THREE REGIONS… / A UNIQUE SITE

Fontevraud Royal Abbey, located where the three regions of Poitou, Anjou and Touraine meet, is one of the largest surviving monastic cities from the Middle Ages. The Abbey was listed as an Historic Monument in 1840, and, as part of the Loire Valley, as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000. In a green valley just a few kilometers from the Loire River, near Saumur, Fontevraud is one of the unmissable stops on a visit to the Loire Valley. A stop, but also a destination… a unique site!

FROM AN ABBEY CHERISHED BY KINGS / TO ONE OF THE MOST FEARED PRISONS

The 13 hectares over which the various buildings are spread, today teeming with life (artists, visitors, conference attendees), illustrate the importance of an Abbey that was directly attached to royalty. The reclining effigies of Eleanor of Aquitaine, of her husband Henry the 2nd and of their son Richard the Lionheart, seen in the Abbey Church, are a reminder of this glorious past. To stroll along the cloister, to visit the chapter house or the kitchens of the Royal Abbey, gives an understanding of the daily lives of the nuns who lived here. Not forgetting its later incarnation, in the 19th century, as one of the toughest prisons in France…

A ‘SINGULAR FOUNDATION’ / FOUR PRIORIES RUN BY A WOMAN

Since its creation nearly a thousand years ago, the Abbey has always been a ‘singular foundation’. A place of social and sexual diversity! The Abbey was run by an abbess, who gave shelter to men and women in the four priories: Sainte-Marie for the ‘contemplatives’, Sainte-Marie-Madeleine for the lay sisters, Saint-Jean de l’Habit for the monks, and Saint-Lazare for nuns caring for lepers.

FROM THE ‘IDEAL CITY’ / TO ‘PROJECT FONTEVRAUD’

The concept of the ‘ideal city’, thought up at the time of founding the Abbey by its founder, Robert d’Arbrissel, remains at the heart of ‘project Fontevraud’. This is a project inspired by the rich history of the site, while remaining resolutely focussed on the present and, above all, the future. It is a question of building a ‘city for living’ and not simply a ‘city for contemplation’, focussing of four major areas: art and culture, sustainable development, digital technology and hospitality.

FONTEVRAUD BRAND IDENTITY

THE CONCEPT

The conceptual starting point is based on the notion of ’permeability’ between sacred and profane.

Fontevraud was a Royal Abbey for over six centuries before Napoleon save the place from demolition in 1804 by turning it into a prison. In 1975, Fontevraud Royal Abbey opened to the public, putting an end to nine centuries of life behind closed doors and opening the way to the ‘ideal city-state’ – in the words of its founder – that can be visited today.

Over this long history, we’ve chosen to focus on the ‘Sacred / Profane’ antinomy.
We’ve designed the ’sacred’ with the variation of a graphic element which we’ve named the ‘HALO’.
The ’Profane’ notion is represented by the an original typographical writing derived of the ‘SLASH’ graphic element. The relation between ‘HALO’ surfaces and ’SLASH’ graphic elements is the base of the visual identity of Fontevraud.

The Slash
• The slash stands for the ‘iconoclast’ spirit of Fontevraud: nonconformist, nor horizontal or vertical, but oblique.
• The use of the slash also asserts a political view and puts forward a radical graphic design: aesthetics of the scratch, the scar, the overlay (prisoners left many graffitis on the walls).
• The slash also evokes the language of computer programming. It emphasizes the digital nature of the Fontevraud brand identity.
• The English word ‘slash’ probably comes from a French verb of the late 14th century, ‘eslachier’, a variant of ‘esclater’ (‘burst’).