Abbaye bénédictine de Charlieu

Charlieu

Founded around 872 by Benedictine monks and attached from 932 to mighty Cluny, the abbey of Charlieu was for centuries the Cluniac sentinel on the borders of Burgundy and the Forez. Excavations there tell a rare story: three churches superimposed on the same site, from the modest Carolingian sanctuary to the great Romanesque abbey church, like three ages of faith stacked in the ground. What survives above ground is reason enough for the journey: the great 12th-century portal, a masterpiece of Romanesque sculpture, where Christ in Majesty is enthroned in his mandorla surrounded by the symbols of the evangelists, and the north portal, whose deeply carved archivolts already herald Gothic exuberance. The Wars of Religion and then the Revolution brought down the nave — the stones of the abbey church built many a house in Charlieu — but the late 15th-century cloister, the chapter house with its stone lectern, the prior's chapel and its Renaissance courtyard make up an ensemble of undiminished elegance, in that golden limestone that makes the light so soft in the Charlieu country. Owned by the Loire département, the site can be visited almost all year round, and comes alive in summer with evening shows. The visit is happily rounded off with the nearby medieval town, its half-timbered houses and the Cordeliers convent: a whole day in one of the finest monastic chapters of the Sornin valley.

Getting there : 1 allée de l'Abbaye, 42190 Charlieu (coordinates for the centre of Charlieu, the abbey lies on the immediate edge of the town: approach point). Site run by the Loire département: open from February to December (closed in January), extended hours from April to October; admission €5, concessions €4, free under 12; guided tours of around 1 hour (04 77 60 09 97).

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

Ambient sound