Audio Guide Vézelay

Vézelay

Places researched in this city

A selection of the 13 places we've researched in this city. The full set is in the Parroo app.

• Romanesque basilica
• Medieval ramparts
• Pilgrimage street
• Franciscan chapel
• Archaeological site

• 01

  Basilica of St. Mary Magdalene of Vézelay

  On the summer solstice, sunlight falls through the clerestory windows to illuminate a precise line of capitals down the nave's centre aisle, a phenomenon known as the "chemin de lumière" that medieval builders almost certainly planned deliberately. Founded around 858 and rebuilt after a catastrophic fire in 1120, the basilica became one of the four official departure points for the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.

• 02

  Romanesque Nave and Path of Light

  The nave, completed between 1120 and 1140, stretches 62.5 metres and uses alternating dark and light voussoirs in its arches, a signature Burgundian touch rarely seen elsewhere at this scale. The tympanum above the central portal is considered one of the greatest pieces of Romanesque sculpture in France.

• 03

  Ramparts and New Gate

  The Porte Neuve's twin round towers, each 12 metres in diameter with walls three metres thick, were built at the end of the 15th century, well after the Hundred Years' War had already ravaged the region. Walking the circuit of the original 12th-century ramparts still reveals the logic of a town designed to protect both pilgrims and the abbey's considerable wealth.

• 04

  La Grande Rue

  In 1146, Bernard of Clairvaux stood somewhere along this street and preached the Second Crusade to a crowd that reportedly included King Louis VII, an event that shaped European history. The medieval stone houses lining the route date from the 12th to the 15th century and were built to serve the steady flow of pilgrims heading uphill to the basilica.

• 05

  Castle Terrace

  The abbots' medieval palace that once stood here was demolished not by war or neglect but because it reportedly "did not please" its occupant after a renovation in 1762 during the French Revolution. What remains is a single wall and an open terrace with panoramic views over the Cure Valley and the Morvan hills.

• 06

  The Salty Fountains

  The oak-lined wells sunk into the ground here date to around 2300 BC, making this saline spring site one of the oldest engineered water installations in France. By the Gallo-Roman period it had grown into a full thermal complex with separate baths for men and women and an open-air circular temple, all of which archaeologists have now mapped in detail.

• 07

  Vézelay Cemetery

  Tucked below the basilica's apse with views across the Cure Valley, this quiet walled cemetery is where the philosopher and writer Georges Bataille, a central figure in 20th-century French thought, chose to be buried. The modest ivy-covered graves and the hill's silence make it one of the more unexpectedly reflective stops in the village.

• 08

  6 more places to discover

  In the Parroo app