The Rough Guide Snapshot France - Burgundy by Rough Guides

Author:Rough Guides
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780241276730
Publisher: Rough Guides

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Cluny

The abbey

Arrival and information

Accommodation

Eating and drinking

Scattered among the houses of the attractive modern-day town, the abbey of CLUNY is the Saône Valley’s major tourist destination. The monastery was founded in 910 in response to the corruption of the existing church, and it took only a couple of vigorous early abbots to transform the power of Cluny into a veritable empire. Second only to that of the pope, the abbot’s power in the Christian world made even monarchs tremble. However, Cluny’s spiritual influence gradually declined and the abbey became a royal gift in the twelfth century. Centuries later, in the wake of the Revolution, Hugues de Semur’s vast and influential eleventh-century church, which had been the largest building in Christendom until the construction of St Peter’s in Rome, was dismantled. The most exciting thing that has happened since has been the burial of Mme Danielle Mitterrand, the President’s wife, in the town cemetery; her grave attracts many visitors.

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