Highlights of Paray-Le-Monial and Chateau Digoine in Burgundy France

You can get pizza any time you want.

Basilica of Paray-Le-Monial.  This is considered one of the finest examples of religious architecture from the Cluny period.

Paray-le-Monial has been nicknamed “the city of the Sacred Heart”.  The town is mostly known as a place of pilgrimage.  The priory church was built in the 12th century at the time of Hague’s of Semur, the sixth abbot of Cluny.  It was raised to the rank of minor Basilica in 1875 in dedication to the Sacred Heart, in remembrance of the apparitions of Christ to the visitation of nun Margaret Mary Alacoque who saw the apparition of the heart of Jesus between 1673 and 1675.  This was authenticated by her confessor, the Jesuit Father Claude La Colombiere.  The visitation chapel has been central to the largest pilgrimages in France beginning the summer of 1873 with 200,000 pilgrims.  To this day people continue their pilgrimage to Paray-Le-Monial.  

Interior of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart

The back of the Basilica is beautiful.

This little chapel is in the park by the Basilica.  A large covered area was provided for services.

Tour of Saint-Nicholas (XVI century) has had a long and varied history from worship to prison, guard room or town house.  It is now used for exhibitions.

War memorial in front of the Basilica

In the center of town a remodel is taking place.  These stones are being removed from the interior  of what looked to be a home.  This is some serious stone flooring.

Paray-Le-Monial is also known for its tile.  The sidewalks and a boulangerie have decorative tiles.

On a boulangerie floor.

Examples of sidewalk tiles found throughout the town.

At the contemporary art museum we found a mosaic exhibition from Canada.  The detail work exhibited in the art and tiny pieces these artists cut were astonishing.  

This piece is entitled Tipping the Scales.

This is one of seven images all in mosaic in a series called The Resurrection of Mary Magdalene.

One of the great pleasures of barging is being able to explore sights off the beaten path for most tourists.  We took an afternoon to visit Chateau de Digoine considered a jewel of Burgundy’s heritage.  It was initially a defensive structure belonging to the lords who played an important role in the court of the Dukes of Burgundy.  It became a holiday home in the late 18th century.  We weren’t permitted to take pictures of the interior.  

Chateau de Digoine

While the theatre hasn’t yet been restored, enough of it remains to give us a good idea of its grandeur during it’s pinnacle.

Detail of the theatre.

The theatre had to be impressive, as I find it still beautiful.

Green House

A view of the green house and Chateau de Digoine 

Another angle of the Chateau de Digoine

Interesting vocabulary:

Abbey:  a major monastery, presided over by an Abbot

Basilica:  a church built in a particularly important place, for instance a place of pilgrimage able to welcome many pilgrims.  Major basilicas are in Rome.  In France about a hundred churches were raised to the rank of minor basilicas during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Cathedral:  the principal church of a diocese, with which the bishop is officially associated.

Priory Church:  the church of a community of monks of the order of Saint Benedict, under the spiritual direction of a prior, whose monastery depends on an abbey.