Basilique Saint-Julien de Brioude

Brioude

It all begins with a flight. Around 304, under the persecution of Diocletian, Julian, a Roman soldier from Vienne who had become a Christian, sought refuge in Auvergne; caught near Brioude, he was beheaded. Tradition, set down as early as the 6th century by Gregory of Tours, tells that two old men, Arcons and Ilpize, buried his body and at once recovered the vigour of their youth. On this tomb, prodigal in miracles, a sanctuary soon rose that became one of the great pilgrimages of Gaul: the kings of France stopped there on the road to Le Puy, and nearly three hundred churches in France would come to bear the martyr's name. The present basilica, built from the 11th to the 13th century, is the largest Romanesque church in Auvergne: 74 metres of warm architecture blending red sandstone, honey-coloured limestone, dark basalt and marble, a masterpiece of polychromy. Inside, lively carved capitals, medieval frescoes among the best preserved in the Massif Central and an astonishing pebble pavement rediscovered in the 1960s make up a picture book. In 2008, 37 stained-glass windows by the Dominican father Kim En Joong added flows of contemporary colour to this ancient stone, acclaimed across Europe. Every 28 August, the feast of Saint Julian carries on a devotion seventeen centuries old; for the rest of the year, the light falling through the nave is enough to make one understand why people have been walking to Brioude for so long.

Getting there : Place Grégoire de Tours, in the centre of Brioude (coordinates are for the town centre, with the basilica immediately beside: approach point). Open every day, 9am-5pm (until 7pm in summer), free admission; individual guided tours in July-August, groups all year round by reservation (04 71 74 97 49). Listed as a monument historique (historic monument) from the very first list of 1840.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound