HAUTE-COMBE. - The Cistercian abbey of H.-C., on the left bank of Lake Bourget (Savoy), founded in 1125 by Amedeo III di Savoia, thereafter served as the burial place of the counts and dukes of Savoy.
It was rebuilt in 1743; sold as national property in 1792, it was converted into a faience factory; it was redeemed in 1824 by King Carlo Felice, who restored the church and monastic buildings, a work completed in 1843 by Queen Maria Cristina. The façade of the church is in pointed-arch style; the interior is entirely occupied by tombs and cenotaphs, with over 300 statues in Carrara marble, Scyssel stone, and gilded wood. The high altar is adorned with fifteenth-century paintings on wood; the frescoes of the dome (Gonino and the Vacca brothers) depict episodes from the life of St Bernard. Among the tombs, noteworthy are those of Claudio d'Estavayer, abbot of H.-C. and bishop of Belley (first half of the sixteenth century); Luigi I di Vad and his wife Giovanna di Montfort; Amedeo III, V, and VI; and Blessed Bonifacio, archbishop of Canterbury. The adjoining cloister still partly dates from the sixteenth century and contains many remains of funerary monuments. To the right of the church is the royal residence. To the north, moreover, Carlo Felice had a chapel dedicated to St Felice built.
In 1922 the monastery passed to the Benedictines of S. Maria Maddalena in Marseille.