On 14 April 1136, Raymond of St-Gilles summoned some Cistercian monks from the abbey of Majan (diocese of Viviers) to found an abbey in the territory of Tourtou near the Floreya river in the diocese of Fréjus. The monastery, which took the name of Notre-Dame de Florieges in 1147, received gifts from Raymond Berengar the Old, Marquis of Provence. Later, however, the abbey moved six miles to the place called Thoronet in the Var, and Alfonso, son of Raymond, King of Aragon, confirmed its possession and enriched it with privileges; the monastery flourished especially during the 11th–12th centuries.
The church, of pure Cistercian architecture, was begun c. 1160 and completed c. 1190; it has three naves, three bays, inspired by that of Morimond with a semicircular apse lit by three windows; radiating chapels in the transept. The façade has no central door. The cloister and monastic buildings lie to the north of the church. The cloister, contemporary with the sacred edifice, is trapezoidal, following the slope of the hill; between the southern gallery, which is almost at the level of the church, and the others, there is a drop overcome by seven steps; the northern and western galleries are later than the church; except for the northern one, the other three had an upper floor with full-centred arches. The sacristy, the library, the chapter house and the annexes were erected c. 1170–1200; the dormitory c. 1200; a cell for the bell-ringer was also built. To the west of the cloister were the service areas and the cellar, as well as a special building for the lay brothers and an oil mill.
In the 18th century, the bishop of Riez and commendatory abbot Monsignor Philipeaux separated the choir by means of screens, lined the walls with marble, transformed the windows into niches with statues of St Lawrence, St Bernard, and the Madonna and Child (this last group was taken in 1806 to the church of Lorgues). In 1793 the abbey was suppressed and sold. In 1841 its restoration was decided upon. Prosper Mérimée reacquired the church and much of the monastery in 1854. In the restorations begun in 1878 the original windows were reopened and the screens removed; work was resumed in 1906 by J. Formigé and F. Roustan. — See pl. III.