Abbaye de Gigny, la maison de Bernon

Gigny

In the 880s a monk of high birth named Bernon established a community here to live the rule of Saint Benedict as Benedict of Aniane had restored it to honour. Pope Formosus confirms the foundation at his request and takes Gigny, with Baume-les-Messieurs, under the protection of the Holy See: a rare guarantee, and the exact model of what William the Pious would write into the charter of Cluny thirty years later. When, in 909, the duke of Aquitaine hands over to Bernon an estate in the Mâconnais, it is from here and from Baume that the first twelve monks set out — six and six, tradition says. What follows is an eclipse: the daughter outgrows the mother. In 1076, at the request of the monks themselves, Gregory VII entrusts Gigny to the abbot of Cluny Hugh of Semur; in 1095 the abbey becomes a simple Cluniac priory, which would all the same keep twenty-one priories and the patronage of forty-nine parishes. The church preserves a nave of the First Romanesque with six bays, with piers without capitals and masonry of hammer-broken stones, a chancel of the 11th century and a crossing dome taken up in ribs as early as the Gothic period. The front bears the arms of Giuliano della Rovere, commendatory prior from 1492 to 1503, who became Pope Julius II.

Wikipédia — Abbaye Saint-Pierre de Gigny ↗

Getting there : From Saint-Julien or Arinthod by the roads of the Petite Montagne; parking on the village square, the church is a step away. A parish building, open during the day; accompanied visits in season, enquire at the town hall or at the tourist office of the southern Jura.

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

Ambient sound