Antique & Vintage Postcards

A peacock strolls across the sunlit lawn before the 12th-century colombier (dovecote) of the Abbaye de Fontenay in Burgundy, France — one of Europe's best-preserved Cistercian abbeys, founded by Saint Bernard in 1118 and today a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The massive cylindrical stone tower with its conical slate roof dominates the left of the frame, while ivy-clad residential quarters and the spare Romanesque façade of the abbey church rise to the right, all rendered in crisp mid-century black-and-white photography by P. L. Lefèvre of Auxerre. The card was never posted, leaving it in pristine unwritten condition — a clean, collectible example of French architectural documentary photography at its finest.