Over the next 250 years, the abbey never regained its power or position within European Christianity. Seen as an example of the excesses of the" Ancien Régime", the monastic buildings and most of the church were destroyed in the French Revolution. Its extensive library and archives were burned in 1793 and the church was given up to plundering. The abbey's estate was sold in 1798 for 2,140,000 francs. Over the next twenty years the Abbey's immense walls were quarried for stone that was used in rebuilding the town.