Photos: Vezelay, a hilltop village in France’s Burgundy region
The hilltop village of Vézelay is the site of one of the most beautiful churches in France. Less well-known than Chartres, Vézelay is admired for its soaring Romanesque nave. (Susan Spano / For The Times)
The first church at Vézelay was consecrated by Pope John VIII in 878, rebuilt during the 12th Century and restored in the mid-1800s after the depredations of the French Revolution. (Susan Spano / For The Times)
The carved tympanum at the entrance is a 19th Century restoration carried out by French architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc depicting the Last Judgment. (Susan Spano / For The Times)
The interior tympanum bears another, even finer Last Judgment, this one dating from the 12th Century. (Susan Spano / For The Times)
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Scores of carvings on column capitals at Vézelay tell biblical stories. This one is of the “mystic mill,” an allegory for Moses receiving the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai. (Susan Spano / For The Times)
The great door with its colossal hinges. (Susan Spano / For The Times)
The nave of the church is about 200 feet long, leading to the Gothic choir and crypt where the holy relics of St. Mary Magdalene that made Vézelay an important place of pilgrimage were enshrined. (Susan Spano / For The Times)
The short Gothic transept. (Susan Spano / For The Times)
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Main street in the village leading to the church. (Susan Spano / For The Times)
The surrounding countryside, not so different from when it was part of the great Duchy of Burgundy, which rivaled the Kingdom of France in the 15th Century. (Susan Spano / For The Times)
