Église Saint-Ayoul de Provins

Provins

The church owes its existence to a discovery: following a healing held to be miraculous, there were found here in 996 the relics of Aigulphe, a former bishop of Bourges buried in the greatest secrecy in 845, and they were transferred to a nearby sanctuary. In 1048 Thibaud I, count of Champagne, gave the sanctuary to the abbey of Saint-Pierre de Montier-la-Celle, which established a priory there; the pilgrimage and the fairs did the rest, and Provins became one of the capitals of mercantile Champagne. It is here that there ended, around 1122, the most famous flight in the intellectual history of the 12th century. A monk at Saint-Denis, Peter Abelard had read in Bede that Dionysius the Areopagite was bishop of Corinth and not of Athens, and had said so: that was to deny that the patron saint of the royal abbey was the convert of Saint Paul. Accused of attacking the honour of the kingdom and threatened with the king's court, he escaped by night towards the lands of Count Thibaud; the prior of Saint-Ayoul received him. A street in Provins bears his name today. The fire of 1157 carried off part of the building, rebuilt at once in a Gothic still very close to the Romanesque; there remain of it a sculpted portal of the 12th century and some capitals.

Wikipédia — Église Saint-Ayoul de Provins ↗

Getting there : Provins is 90 km south-east of Paris, with a station served from Paris-Est; the church is in the lower town, ten minutes' walk from the station, at the bottom of the climb to the upper town. Open every day, free entry. Parking is easy on the square.

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

Ambient sound