When we were away last month we visited Vézelay. Our main reason for going there was Susan's half memory from a TV documentary of a place that sounded like Vézelay that has a very important late medieval sculpture. Spoiler alert... it's not Vézelay.
The Abbaye Sainte-Marie-Madeleine de Vézelay was originally built between 1120
and 1150. It was sacked by the Hugenots in 1569, and suffered further
indignities throughout the 17th and 18th century, and later during the
Revolution.
The man who rebuilt Carcassonne, Eugène Viollet-le-Duc,
supervised a massive restoration undertaken in several stages between 1840 and
1861, during which time a great deal of weathered and vandalized sculpture was
replaced. He also built the flying buttresses that support the nave.
Looking
at the newly christened "basilica" it's hard to believe that anything of the
original remains. It's bloody big, but we found it underwhelming, in the same way that we
find La Basilique du Sacré Cœur de Montmartre in Paris underwhelming.
And you have to pay to park.
2 comments:
To each his own!
I would have to agree. VlD was really a bit of a vandal, making things "more historic" vis-a-vis the Carcassonne towers. And I do agree with you on Sacre Coeur. I stayed nearby for a couple of months once and never saw its charm. It isn't even old!!
bonnie in provence
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