Vézelay Abbey

Vézelay Abbey, France

The pale stone west front of Vézelay Abbey glows in low evening sun at the top of a cobbled street, with a lamp bracket in the foreground.

Vézelay Abbey is a Romanesque pilgrim church on a Burgundy hilltop, with carved stone doorways and capitals that reward slow looking.

The place

Vézelay Abbey stands on the crest of a hill in the Yonne department, in east-central France, and the church that survives from it, the Basilica of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, is the landmark of the whole district. The village below has only a few hundred residents, and almost everything in it is arranged along one steep street that climbs from the walls to the basilica doors. The abbey was Benedictine and linked to the reforming house of Cluny. The present church was built between 1120 and 1150, and it mixes Romanesque and Gothic styles. Its fame rests on sculpture: carved capitals inside and richly worked portals around the entrance, planned as a connected scheme rather than as decoration. The building has not had an easy life. Huguenots sacked it in 1569, it was neglected through the following two centuries, and the French Revolution did further harm. Much of the weathered sculpture was replaced in a 19th-century restoration, so some of what is seen is later work. The church and the hill were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979. Pilgrims still pass through on the way to Santiago de Compostela, but they are a small share of the visitors. Summer weekends bring coach parties and a crowded main street, while spring and autumn mornings can feel almost private. Relics of Mary Magdalene are kept inside the basilica.

Its story

Vézelay Abbey grew on land that had once been a late Roman villa, later passed to the Carolingians and to a count named Girart. Two convents he founded there were looted by raiders in the 8th century, and a later hilltop convent was burnt by Norman attackers. In the 9th century the community was refounded under Badilo and joined the reformed Benedictine network centred on Cluny. Its position mattered. Vézelay lay at the start of one of the four main French routes to Santiago de Compostela, so pilgrims already had reason to arrive. Around 1050 the monks began to claim they held the relics of Mary Magdalene, said to have been brought from the Holy Land by Badilo or by messengers he sent. A little later a Vézelay monk reported finding, in a crypt at St-Maximin in Provence, a carving on an empty sarcophagus showing Jesus being anointed at Bethany. Medieval tradition identified the woman anointing him with Mary Magdalene, so the monks declared it her tomb and said her bones had been moved to their church. Whatever the truth, the claim turned a regional abbey into a major destination, and the money and visitors it brought paid for the great Romanesque church. Later centuries were harder: sacking in 1569, decay, Revolutionary damage, and then the restoration that gave the building much of its present look.

What to see

Culture

Vézelay Abbey is first of all a working place of Catholic worship, and its culture is that of pilgrimage. For centuries walkers set out from this hill, or reached it from the north, on the way to Santiago de Compostela, and the custom continues in a modest form. Hundreds of pilgrims still pass through every year, many carrying a scallop shell, the traditional emblem of the route. The cult of Mary Magdalene gave the abbey its fame, and her relics remain inside the basilica, so many visitors come to pray rather than to sightsee. The sculpture also reflects a medieval habit of teaching through images. Capitals and doorways carry biblical stories and moral scenes for people who might not read, and the carvers clearly enjoyed variety, with a surprising range of faces, creatures and gestures. Burgundy's monastic past still shapes the area, and the Cluniac connection explains the scale and ambition of the church. The village around it is small, quiet in the evenings and observant of Sunday habits, and many local businesses close on a regular weekly rhythm. Walking the last stretch uphill, as pilgrims have done, gives a better sense of the place than arriving by car and walking straight in. Keep your voice low inside the basilica, avoid flash photography, and step back from the nave if a service or prayer is under way.

What to wear

Vézelay Abbey has no folk costume in the usual sense, but its clothing history is the clothing of monks and pilgrims. Benedictine monks wore plain wool habits, traditionally dark, and pilgrims on the Santiago route wore a sturdy cloak or hat, carried a staff and fixed a scallop shell to their gear. Wool and linen were the everyday cloth of medieval Burgundy, and both are still sensible choices for the walk up the hill. Today people in Vézelay dress as in much of rural France: neat, practical and layered, with linen and cotton in summer and a good coat in winter. Winegrowers and shopkeepers wear working clothes, and the galleries along the main street add a slightly artistic, relaxed look. Walkers on the pilgrim route wear proper boots and rain jackets, and the scallop shell still turns up on rucksacks. Visitors should wear comfortable shoes with grip, since Rue Saint-Étienne is steep and the cobbles are slippery when wet. The stone interior of the basilica stays cool even on a warm day, so carry a light layer. Because it is an active church, covering shoulders and knees is polite, and hats should come off indoors. In winter, bring a waterproof and gloves, as the hilltop is exposed to wind.

What to eat

Plan it

Best time. Late April to May and October for the most comfortable walking weather and softer light, with highs of about 26–29°C, though May and October are also among the wettest months; June and September run hot, July and August are the hottest, with highs near 40°C, and they are busiest, especially at weekends; winter is cold and quiet, with some places keeping shorter hours.

How long. 1–2

Getting there. Paris is the usual gateway. Vézelay has no train station: the nearest SNCF station is Sermizelles, with SNCF (TER) buses on to Vézelay, and buses also run from Clamecy and Corbigny. Another option is to travel to Avallon, about 17 km east, and take a taxi. By car, take the A6 from Paris towards Beaune and leave for Avallon; there is a free car park outside the village walls, with steps up to Rue Saint-Étienne.

Budget. mid

Tips

Etiquette

Nearby

Sources