Popular Mechanics
BY DARREN ORF
PUBLISHED: MAR 05, 2024 7:30 AM EST
During the intense and bloody French Revolution (1789-1799), Catholic churches and abbeys didn’t fare very well. In 1789, the National Constituent Assembly decided to seize all Catholic property and sell it off in an effort to fund the fledgling Revolutionary currency. The Beaumont Abbey, which had existed outside the city of Tours, France for nearly 800 years, was swept up in this nationwide land grab, its 46 nuns were expelled, and the abbey itself was eventually demolished.