Abbaye de Saint-Maurice d'Agaune

Saint-Maurice

The Rhône, here, passes between two walls of rock: this is the defile of Agaune, the only way between Lake Geneva and the Valais, and therefore the obligatory point on the Alpine road. Tradition places here, about 300, the massacre of a Roman troop come from Egypt, the Theban Legion, whose commander Maurice is said to have refused to sacrifice; about 381, Bishop Theodore had a first sanctuary raised and gathered there the remains of the martyrs. In 515, Sigismund, son of the Burgundian king Gundobad and himself a future king, founded the abbey on that tomb and endowed it richly enough for the laus perennis, the perpetual praise, to be sung there: choirs relieved one another day and night so that the office was never interrupted, a usage that lasted until the 9th century. In 1128 the community adopted the rule of Saint Augustine. It is the oldest abbey in the West occupied without interruption since its foundation, and Sigeric's notebook, in 990, records it under the name Sce Maurici: the last religious house of importance before the climb to the Mont-Joux, it took in travellers going both ways. The treasury keeps the reliquary shrine of Abbot Nantelme, dated 1225, and a sardonyx vase attributed to the 1st century.

Wikipédia — Abbaye territoriale de Saint-Maurice ↗

Getting there : At Saint-Maurice (Valais), five minutes' walk from the station, on the right bank of the Rhône, beside the road that climbs towards Martigny. The basilica is open freely; the treasury and the archaeological excavations of the martyrs' site are seen on a guided tour, for a charge, at fixed times. The site is served by train from Lausanne and Martigny.

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

Ambient sound