The monastery ruins of the Abbaye des Châteliers (Abbey of Notre-Dame-de-Ré) rise behind a field of blooming poppies at La Prée near La Flotte on the island of Ré (Île de Ré), Charente-Maritime, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France. Two gabled walls with Gothic window openings, a pointed turret and the remains of pillars still stand. Cistercian monks founded the abbey in 1156. It became the starting point for the island's economic development with vineyards and salt marshes. English troops devastated it in 1294, 1388 and 1462, and Huguenots destroyed it in 1574 during the Wars of Religion. Its stones we