SENANQUE. – A Cistercian abbey formerly within the territory of the diocese of Cavaillon, now incorporated into that of Avignon in Provence.
It stands in the valley at the foot of the Vaucluse mountains and was founded in 1148 by Alipanto, bishop of Cavaillon. Its original name was Sana aqua; its Romanesque architecture remarkably preserves its features, especially in the abbey church, which has three naves with a transept surmounted by a dome opening into four circular apses flanking the large central one. Adjacent is the cloister with round arches and decorated capitals, and on the sides of the chapter house are bifora windows whose vaults rest on columns with carved capitals. The abbey buildings were restored in the 18th century. The abbey, suppressed during the Revolution and restored in 1854, was reoccupied by the Cistercians in 1925.