Vezelay
Vézelay – the "Eternal Hill" – was one of the most important places of pilgrimage in France. It was a point of departure and assembly for the Crusades and for pilgrims bound for Santiago de Compostela, but most of all it was a magnet for all who wished to see the relics of Mary Magdalen.
The abbey was originally founded in the middle of the 9C by Girart de Roussillon at Saint-Père in the Cure Valley, but was transferred to the top of the hill in 887 under the threat of attacks by the Norman invaders. Crowds started to flock to Vézelay in the 9C, once the papacy authenticated the relics as being those of Christ’s companion.
The gently winding street leading up to the church is lined by houses representing every period of history, huddling close to each other above vaulted cellars which once gave shelter to thousands of pilgrims. In such a setting, it is not difficult to picture the colourful throng of penitents and walking wounded, princes and soldiers, preachers and merchants who flocked to the shrine, a veritable human tide which took to the road on feast days or for such exceptional events as the preaching of the Second Crusade by St Bernard in 1146, the departure of the Third Crusade led by Philip Augustus and Richard Cœur de Lion in 1190, the Seventh Crusade under St Louis in 1248, not to mention the feast of St Mary Magdalen on 22nd July each year.The rebuilt church is what we see today, a masterpiece of Romanesque architecture and part of UNESCO World Heritage.
The large clear windows fill the church with an extraordinary luminosity gathering in intensity as it moves to the east - from the dimly-lit narthex to the nave with its twin-coloured flying buttresses and then the gloriously illuminated choir, rebuilt in the Gothic style shortly after 1200. The clarity of light shows off to advantage the basilica’s extraordinary legacy of sculptures.
Vézelay possesses one of the finest ensembles of sculptures ever produced by the genius of Romanesque architecture. The pillars of the nave and the narthex are adorned by capitals depicting all the themes dear to the heart of Romanesque architects. The crowning glory is unquestionably the "Mystical Mill" which on its own summarises the whole of the Bible. The profuse array of capitals is matched by the grandeur of the tympana of the narthex. The dominating feature is the tympanum of the central doorway where Christ in Majesty is surrounded by the Apostles in a truly striking rendering of the Pentecost miracle. This is one of the most extraordinary creations of the entire Romanesque period and is the work of the same sculptor responsible for the "Mystical Mill".
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Semur En Auxois | The Burgundy Canal | Chateau de Commarin | Alise Saint Reine | Abbey de Fontenay | Beaune | Dijon | Flavigny Chateau de Bussey Rabutin | La Source de La Seine | Vezelay | Chateauneuf-en-Auxois | Burgundy Vineyards
