The remains of the largest church in medieval Christendom, heart of a monastic order that spread across Europe.
€240one way from Beaune with a private driver
Private driver from Beaune: 1 h 07 by road (87 km), €240 one way for the whole car.
Or add it to our full-day wine tour plus two hours, €700.
Coming by train or plane? Transfers from stations and airports →
Founded in 910, the Abbey of Cluny stood at the head of the largest monastic order of the medieval West. Its great church, the Maior Ecclesia, remained the largest in Western Christendom until the rebuilding of St Peter's in Rome. Most of it was demolished after the Revolution, but what survives still conveys its scale.
The visit uses a 3D model, a film and augmented-reality terminals to rebuild the vanished church around you. Then stand in the south arm of the great transept, nearly 30 metres high, beneath the octagonal Holy Water bell tower, the only one left of four. Walk through the vast 18th-century cloister, and see the 13th-century Farinier, whose oak roof frame shelters eight capitals from the choir of Cluny III.
On 11 September 910, William the Pious, Duke of Aquitaine and Count of Mâcon, gave a Carolingian estate by the river Grosne to found a Benedictine abbey. He placed it directly under the protection of the Pope, independent of local lords and bishops, and chose Berno as first abbot. Under abbots such as Odo, Odilo and Hugh of Semur, Cluny reformed monasteries across Europe and built up a vast network of priories.
In 1088 Abbot Hugh launched a third church, known as Cluny III or the Maior Ecclesia. Its vaults rose above 30 metres, and for nearly four centuries it was the largest church in the Christian West, until St Peter's in Rome overtook it in the 16th century. In 1095 Pope Urban II consecrated its high altar. The monastic buildings were entirely rebuilt in the 18th century, only a few decades before the monks left.
At the Revolution the abbey was sold, and from 1798 the great church was demolished and used as a stone quarry; its facade was blown up in 1810. Less than a tenth of Cluny III survives. Since 1901 part of the site has housed a campus of the Arts et Métiers engineering school, and today the Centre des monuments nationaux looks after the abbey and its museum.
Last admission is 45 minutes before closing, and entry is free on the first Sunday of January, February, March, November and December.
Checked on on the official site.
Allow two to three hours for the abbey and the Musée d'Art et d'Archéologie in the Palais Jean de Bourbon, which a joint ticket covers. Audio guides are available in English. On Saturday mornings the town's market fills the streets beside the abbey.
What to combine with Cluny Abbey on the same day, nearest first.
Cluny Abbey is about 1 h 07 from Beaune by road (87 km). With a private driver, the trip from Beaune starts at €240 for the whole car, up to 4 guests.
Did you know? Cluny gained the right to mint its own coins in the 10th century. A hoard of more than 2,200 silver coins, most of them struck here, was found in 2017 with 21 gold Almoravid dinars and is displayed in the abbey.
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€240 one way from Beaune · up to 4 guests
