Cluny Abbey

The third abbey church at Cluny, begun in 1088, was around a hundred and eighty-seven metres long and remained the largest church in Christendom until the new St Peter's in Rome surpassed it. The order held hundreds of dependent houses across Europe and answered to the pope alone. After the Revolution the abbey was sold and used as a stone quarry for thirty years, so what stands today is roughly a twelfth of the church: one transept arm with its octagonal belfry, some conventual buildings, a granary holding carved capitals. Projections and models on site reconstruct the lost nave, and the scale is only understandable through them.

What you actually see

• The surviving transept - one arm and the octagonal Eau Benite belfry.
• The reconstruction displays - models and projections of the vanished nave.
• The carved capitals - Romanesque sculpture kept in the granary.
• The abbey town - streets built partly from the abbey's own stone.

When to go

April to October; the site opens year-round with shorter winter hours. Summer brings concerts. The surrounding Maconnais vineyards are good in September.

Honest expectations

Most of the great church is gone, and visitors expecting a standing abbey are often disappointed. The visit depends on interpretation aids to make sense. Allow time for the augmented reality stops.

Nearby

Taize lies north; Macon and the Solutre rock are southeast.