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This photo is the first one of a series called 'Renaissance': the facade is at present in the course of renovation, quite as was it the inside of the abbey, stony walls of which found the brightness of their youth.

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Under the administration of king Dagobert ( 628-638 ), arrive at Centule (the city with hundred towers) two Irish monks: Caidoc and Frichor.
They convert to the religious life a resident of the city: Riquier. This last one dedicates its life to the prayer, the punishment, the evangelization of the North of the Gaule , and in the repurchase of the slaves in England. A part of these slaves forms the first monastic community which lives under the St Colomban's Irish rule, before adopting that of St Benoît.
Riquier withdraws in the forest of Crécy, where he dies towards 645. His body is brought back to Centule.
Based on the grave of Riquier, the abbey reaches its highlight under Charlemagne's administration, and becomes one of the most important places of St Empire.
The abbey is destroyed by the Normans in 881, then by the Comte of St Pol in 1131. The abbey undergoes two dramatic fires ( 1475-1554 ). The construction of the current building begins in the XIIIth century and ends in the XVIIth.
Buildings serve as military hospital during both world wars.
The last religious order (the Society of the Brothers Auxiliaries) leaves the abbey in 1972, date in which sheis acquired by the department.
She shelters nowadays a cultural centre, and receives every summer a classic festival of music.