La Chaise-Dieu

The abbey stands at over a thousand metres on an exposed granite plateau, rebuilt in the fourteenth century by Pope Clement VI, who had been a monk here and is buried in the choir. Along one wall of the nave runs a fresco of the Danse Macabre, painted around 1470: a line of about twenty-four figures from pope and emperor down to labourer and child, each partnered by a corpse leading them away, painted in the aftermath of plague years and left unfinished. Flemish tapestries hang in the choir. A famous music festival, founded by the pianist Georges Cziffra in 1966, fills the church each August.

History

The name means "the seat of God", after the Benedictine abbey founded here, traditionally on 28 December 1043, by Robert de Turlande, a canon of Brioude who had trained at Cluny under Abbot Odilo; by his death, probably in 1067, it had over 300 monks and 42 dependent priories, and he was canonised in 1095. The abbey went on growing through the Middle Ages, and Pope Clement VI, who had begun his life as a monk here, paid for the vast abbey church of 1344-1350, where his tomb stands. Its fresco of the Dance of Death, of about 1470, follows the order of society from Adam and Eve, the pope and the emperor down to the ploughman, the child and the pilgrim, each led by a skeleton. The Jansenist bishop Jean Soanen was exiled to the abbey from 1727 to 1740, and at the Revolution the monks were expelled (Wikipedia, La Chaise-Dieu).

Highlights

• The Danse Macabre - about twenty-four figures led away by corpses.
• The tomb of Clement VI - the pope's monument in the choir.
• The Flemish tapestries - sixteenth-century hangings in the church.
• The music festival - August concerts in the abbey acoustic.

When to go

May to September; the plateau is severe in winter and much closes. The music festival is in late August and books out. The church is cold even in summer, which is part of its character.

Things to know

The fresco is faded and hard to read in poor light; take time and use the interpretation. The village around the abbey is small with limited facilities. Festival dates make accommodation scarce.

Nearby

Le Puy-en-Velay lies south; Ambert and the Livradois are west.