Abbaye d'Aulne in Thuin

You're standing at Aulne Abbey, on the wooded banks of the river Sambre, just outside Thuin. The name probably comes from the alder tree, aulne in French, which likely grew here in large numbers when the first monks arrived. What you see now is a ruin, but quite a ruin. This was once one of the richest and most powerful abbeys in the Bishopric of Liège.