Abbaye de Mozac, tête de pont clunisienne en Auvergne

Mozac

A few months before Pope Urban II launched the crusade at the council of Clermont, Durand, bishop of Auvergne, granted the abbey of Mozac to that of Cluny; since Mozac was a royal abbey, Philippe I confirmed the gift by a charter of that same year 1095. The house was old — tradition attributes its foundation to Saint Calminius in the 6th or 7th century, and it had received in 764 the relics of Saint Austremonius, first bishop of Clermont — and it was rich, with its seventeen mills and its forty dependencies. Unlike Charlieu, reduced to a priory in 1040, or Sauxillanges in 1062, Mozac kept its title of abbey: a bull of Urban II even grants it "the first rank among those of Cluny". Its dependencies, priories, parishes and castle chapels mark out a road running from the north of the Auvergne as far as Burgundy: staging posts from Mozac to Cluny. It would remain Cluniac until the order disappeared. One comes here for the Romanesque capitals, among the finest in the Auvergne, for the pre-Romanesque crypt rediscovered in 1849, and for the shrine of Saint Calminius and Saint Namadia, the largest medieval reliquary in Limoges enamel known in the world. The earthquakes of the 15th century account for the Gothic parts.

Wikipédia — Abbaye de Mozac ↗

Getting there : From Riom by the D 986, two kilometres; parking near the church. The abbey church of Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Caprais is open during the day; the pre-Romanesque crypt and the shrine of Saint Calminius can be seen on guided tours, seasonal times, enquire at the Riom tourist office.

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

Ambient sound