Basilica of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, Vézelay (Basilique Sainte-Marie-Madeleine de Vézelay)

What you will see

You enter through the narthex, where the great carved tympanum shows Christ in glory. Beyond it, the long Romanesque nave is lined with carved capitals that tell Bible stories and legends, a gallery of 12th-century sculpture to study pillar by pillar. At the far end, the Gothic choir, rebuilt at the end of the 12th century, is flooded with light. The effect is deliberate: you move from a dark porch into ever brighter space. Outside, the hilltop gives wide views over the surrounding countryside.

History

In the 11th century the abbey claimed the relics of Mary Magdalene, and pilgrims flocked to Vézelay, an important stage on the road to Santiago de Compostela. The present nave was built from 1120, after a fire that killed many pilgrims. Bernard of Clairvaux preached the Second Crusade here at Easter 1146, before King Louis VII. In 1190 Richard the Lionheart and Philip Augustus met at Vézelay before leaving on the Third Crusade.

Huguenots sacked the church in 1569, and by the 19th century it was close to collapse. Prosper Mérimée, inspector of historic monuments, raised the alarm, and the young architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc led a vast restoration from 1840 to 1861. The basilica was on the first list of historic monuments in 1840. Since 1993 the Fraternités monastiques de Jérusalem have led prayer here, with services several times a day.