13 Best Sights in Burgundy, France

In the 11th and 12th centuries, the celebrated Basilique Ste-Madeleine was one of the focal points of Christendom. Pilgrims poured in to see the relics of St-Mary Magdalene (in the crypt) before setting off on the great trek to the shrine of St-James at Santiago de Compostela, in northwest Spain. Several pivotal church declarations of the Middle Ages were made from here, including St-Bernard's preaching of the Second Crusade (which attracted a huge French following) and Thomas à Becket's excommunication of English king Henry II. By the mid-13th century the authenticity of St-Mary's relics was in doubt; others had been discovered in Provence. The basilica's decline continued until the French Revolution, when the basilica and adjoining monastery buildings were sold by the state. Only the basilica, cloister, and dormitory escaped demolition, and were falling into ruin when ace restorer Viollet-le-Duc, sent by his mentor Prosper Merimée, rode to the rescue in 1840 (he also restored the cathedrals of Laon and Amiens and Paris's Notre-Dame). Guided tours are offered every Sunday from May to August at 2:30 pm.

Today the UNESCO-listed basilica has recaptured much of its glory and is considered to be one of France's most prestigious Romanesque showcases. The exterior tympanum was redone by Viollet-le-Duc (have a look at the eroded original as you exit the cloister), but the narthex (circa 1150) is a Romanesque masterpiece. Note the interwoven zodiac signs and depictions of seasonal crafts along its rim, similar to those at both Troyes and Autun. The pilgrims' route around the building is indicated by the majestic flowers, which metamorphose into full-blown blooms, over the left-hand entrance on the right; an annual procession is still held on July 22. The basilica's exterior is best seen from the leafy terrace to the right of the facade. Opposite, a vast, verdant panorama encompasses vines, lush valleys, and rolling hills. In the foreground is the Flamboyant Gothic spire of St-Père-sous-Vézelay, a tiny village 3 km (2 miles) away.

Historically linked more with Paris than Burgundy, Sens was the country’s ecclesiastical center for centuries. Today it's still dominated by Cathédrale St-Étienne, once the French sanctuary for Thomas à Becket and a model for England's Canterbury Cathedral. You can see the 240-foot south tower from miles away. As you draw near, the pompous 19th-century buildings lining the town's narrow main street—notably the meringue-like Hôtel de Ville—can give you a false impression; in fact, the streets leading off it near the cathedral (notably Rue Abelard and Rue Jean-Cousin) are full of medieval half-timber houses. On Monday the cathedral square is crowded with merchants' stalls, and the beautiful late-19th-century market hall—a distant cousin of Baltard's former iron-and-glass Halles in Paris—hums with people buying meat and produce. A smaller market is held on Friday morning.

Begun around 1130, the cathedral once had two towers: one was topped in 1532 by an elegant though somewhat incongruous Renaissance campanile that contained two monster bells; the other was taken down in the 19th century. Note the trefoil arches decorating the exterior of the remaining tower. The gallery, with statues of former archbishops of Sens, is a 19th-century addition, but the statue of St. Stephen (aka St-Étienne) between the doors of the central portal, is thought to date to late in the 12th century. The vast, harmonious interior is justly renowned for its stained-glass windows: the oldest (circa 1200) are in the north transept and include the stories of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son; those in the south transept were manufactured in 1500 in Troyes and include a much-admired Tree of Jesse. Stained-glass windows in the north of the chancel retrace the story of Thomas à Becket: Becket fled to Sens from England to escape the wrath of Henry II before returning to his cathedral in Canterbury, where he was murdered in 1170. Below the window—which shows him embarking on his journey in a boat, and also at the moment of his death—is a medieval statue of an archbishop said to have come from the site of Becket's home in Sens. Becket's aube (vestment) is displayed in the annex to the Palais Synodal.

North of Place des Cordeliers is the former Abbaye de St-Germain, which stands parallel to the cathedral some 300 yards away. The church's earliest aboveground section is the 12th-century Romanesque bell tower, but the extensive underground crypt was inaugurated by Charles the Bald in 859 and contains its original Carolingian frescoes and Ionic capitals. It's the only monument of its kind in Europe—a layout retaining the plan of the long-gone church built above it—and was a place of pilgrimage until Huguenots burned the remains of its namesake, a Gallo-Roman governor and bishop of Auxerre, in the 16th century.

The town's Basilique St-Andoche, one of Burgundy's finest Romanesque churches, is almost as old as the one in Vézelay, though less imposing and much restored. Note the impressive Romanesque nave with 12th-century carved capitals. Inside, there is an exhibition with digital displays and a short film explaining the history of the basilica.

Started in 1261 by Pope Urban IV (a native son) and eventually consecrated in 1389, St-Urbain is one of the most remarkable churches in France—a perfect culmination of the Gothic quest to replace stone walls with stained glass. Its narrow porch frames a 13th-century Last Judgment tympanum, whose highly worked elements include a frieze of the dead rising out of their coffins (witness the grimacing skeleton). Look for a carved crayfish on one of the statue's niches (a testament to the local river culture). Inside, a chapel on the south side houses the Vièrge au Raisin (Virgin with Grapes), clutching Jesus with one hand and a bunch of Champagne grapes in the other.

The chief glory of this comparatively austere cathedral is its atmospheric 11th-century crypt, in which a forest of pillars is surmounted by a rotunda.

The town's dominant feature is the ascending line of three magnificent churches—St-Pierre, St-Étienne, and St-Germain—with Cathédrale St-Étienne in the middle, rising majestically above the squat houses around it. The 13th-century choir, the oldest part of the edifice, contains its original stained glass, dominated by brilliant reds and blues. Beneath the choir, the frescoed 11th-century Romanesque crypt keeps company with the treasury, which has a panoply of medieval enamels, manuscripts, and miniatures, plus a rare depiction of Christ on horseback. 

Autun's principal monument is the Cathédrale St-Lazare, a Romanesque cathedral in Gothic clothing. It was built between 1120 and 1146 to house the relics of St-Lazarus; the main tower, spire, and upper reaches of the chancel were added in the late 15th century. Lazarus's tricolor tomb was dismantled in 1766 by canons (vestiges of the exquisite workmanship can be seen in the neighboring Musée Rolin); and those same gentlemen did their best to transform the Romanesque-Gothic cathedral into a classical temple, adding pilasters and other ornaments willy-nilly. Fortunately, the lacy Flamboyant Gothic organ tribune and some of the best Romanesque stonework, including the inspired nave capitals and the tympanum above the main door, emerged unscathed. Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres's painting The Martyrdom of St. Symphorien has been relegated to the dingy north aisle of the nave, partly masked by the organ. The Last Judgment carved in stone above the main door was plastered over in the 18th century, which preserved not only the stylized Christ and elongated apostles but also the inscription "Gislebertus hoc fecit" (Gislebertus did this); Christ's head, which had disappeared, was found by a local canon shortly after World War II. 

Dominating the heart of Troyes, this remarkable cathedral is a prime example of the Flamboyant Gothic style—regarded as the last gasp of the Middle Ages. Note the incomplete single-tower west front, the small Renaissance campaniles on top of the tower, and the artistry of Martin Chambiges, who worked on Troyes's facade (with its characteristic large rose window and flamboyant flames) around the same time as he did the transept of Beauvais. At night the floodlighted features burst into dramatic relief. The cathedral's vast five-aisle interior, refreshingly light thanks to large windows and the near-whiteness of the local stone, dates mainly to the 13th century. It has fine examples of 13th-century stained glass in the choir, such as the Tree of Jesse (a popular regional theme), and richly colored 16th-century glass in the nave and west front rose window.

A series of tapestries relating the life of the Virgin hangs in Beaune's main church, the 12th-century Romanesque Collégiale Notre-Dame. They are on public display from Easter to mid-November.

One of the city's oldest churches, Notre-Dame stands out with spindlelike towers, delicate arches gracing its facade, and 13th-century stained glass. Note the windows in the north transept tracing the lives of five saints, as well as the 11th-century Byzantine linden-wood Black Virgin. Local tradition has it that stroking the small owl sculpted on the outside wall of the adjoining chapel with your left hand grants you a wish.

This church, with its chunky Renaissance facade, fast-forwards 300 years from Notre-Dame.

The oldest church in Troyes, Ste-Madeleine is best known for its elaborate triple-arch stone rood screen separating the nave and the choir. Only a handful of other such screens still remain in France—most were dismantled during the French Revolution. This filigreed Flamboyant Gothic beauty was carved with panache by Jean Gailde between 1508 and 1517. The superbly tranquil Garden of the Innocents, established on the ancient "children's graveyard," symbolizes medieval spirituality.