The Romanesque

Monastic orders and pilgrimage routes filled France with churches. Cluny was the largest church in Christendom, and along the roads to Santiago churches were built for great crowds.

The abbey of Cluny in Burgundy led a network of hundreds of monasteries, and its third church, begun in 1088, was the largest in Christendom until St Peter’s was built. It was almost entirely demolished after the Revolution.

Sainte-Foy at Conques and the basilica of Vézelay lie on the pilgrimage roads. Vézelay’s portal, in which Christ sends out the apostles, is among the finest sculpture of the Romanesque.

• Sainte-Foy, Conques
• Vézelay Abbey