Vézelay Abbey
On a hilltop in Burgundy stands the basilica of Mary Magdalene. The nave has a rhythmic vault of arches in alternating light and dark stone. Inside the narthex is one of the great portals of the Romanesque, where Christ sends the apostles out to the peoples of the world.
The Benedictine abbey at Vézelay claimed to own the relics of Mary Magdalene and became one of France’s most important pilgrimage sites. After a fire in 1120 the present nave was built, and the work continued with the narthex in the middle of the 12th century. The choir was rebuilt in early Gothic style around 1200. Here Bernard of Clairvaux preached the Second Crusade in 1146, and in 1190 Richard the Lionheart and Philip II Augustus met here before setting out on the Third Crusade.
The nave is covered by groin vaults separated by broad transverse arches in alternating pale limestone and darker stone, a pattern that gives the room a strong rhythm. More than a hundred capitals are carved with biblical scenes, legends and fables. The inner portal in the narthex, from the 1120s and 1130s, shows Christ with rays going out to the apostles, and around him are the peoples to be converted, among them people with dogs’ heads and huge ears. The choir to the east is brighter and taller, with pointed arches, and shows that the Gothic was already on its way.
The pilgrims stopped coming after it was claimed at the end of the 13th century that Mary Magdalene’s relics were in Provence. During the French Revolution the church was damaged and the portal sculptures on the west front were destroyed. In the 1840s the young Eugène Viollet-le-Duc was given the task of saving the building, which was on the point of collapse. It was his first major restoration and launched his career. The basilica and hill became a World Heritage Site in 1979. Vézelay is still a starting point for one of the pilgrimage routes to Santiago.