Sénanque Abbey (Occitan: abadiá de Senhanca, French: Abbaye Notre-Dame de Sénanque) is a Cistercian abbey near the village of Gordes in the département of the Vaucluse in Provence, France. First foundation It was founded in 1148 under the patronage of Alfant, bishop of Cavaillon, and Ramon Berenguer II, Count of Barcelona, Count of Provence, by Cistercian monks who came from Mazan Abbey in the Ardèche. Temporary huts housed the first community of impoverished monks. By 1152 the community already…