One of the most beautiful examples of Romanesque art in the Pyrenees-Orientales.

This priory, situated in the Aspres, 600m high, bursts from a narrow, winding road, solitary and seemingly austere, surrounded by shale and green oaks.  On the inside, the visitor is entranced:  Its magnificent gallery in pink marble which comes from the quarries of Villefranche de Conflent, is certainly one of the most beautiful buildings of Roussillon Romanesque art.

A priory which was visited by Merimee, and which became one of the first « historical monuments ». 

Built from a church, whose oldest written record dates back to 1069, the priory lived through prosperous and not so prosperous periods over the centurys.  The church of Sainte-Marie remained the local church of the small village of Serrabona for two centuries (but as the area was poor and deserted, it was closed in 1822).  Later, the priory was noticed by archeologists and visited by Merimee in 1834, thus becoming one of the first « historical monuments ».

Given to the county of the Pyrenees-Orientals by the Jonqueres d'Oriola family in 1968, the priory has been open to the public since then.