A Drive to Cluny Abbey

 We had been advised when Alex, our Cruise Director, told us that we would not be able to sail past Lyon, that we would be adding about 45 minutes each way to the drives to our excursion destinations along the Saone River. That also meant getting up earlier to allow for the extra bus time, so for all of the final days of the cruise, we were up before 7 a.m. to be ready to leave by about 8:15.

This was the first of the long ride excursions, to the town of Cluny, which grew from the immense Benedictine Abbey that was built there. The original rather modest sized Abbey was founded in 910 by William, the Duke of Aquitaine, and the Count of Auvergne. The abbey was dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, and was meant to provide hospitality to the poor, to strangers, and to pilgrims. The monks of the abbey were given complete veto power over any changes, including any that the Pope may have wanted to make.

The Abbey Church was made progressively larger over the years, with Cluny III, built between 1088 and the early 1100s, becoming the largest church building in all of Europe until St. Peter's Basilica was built in Rome. After the height of its influence in the 1400s, the abbey lost a lot of its financial support and, ultimately, the French Revolution took its toll. In 1798 the buildings were claimed for the people. Those people proceeded to destroy them and use the once majestic abbey as a stone quarry to build houses for themselves.

One of the abbey belltowers

from a closer angle

This group is standing at a wall that would have been
where the transept crossed the nave. That open archway
far beyond them would have been the entrance to
the church. Was it big enough??

Part of one of the large transepts

Inside some of the remains. The ceilings
were quite high, but nowhere near as
high as St. Peter's

The funeral chapel of Jean de Bourbon, the
most famous of the Cluny abbots, who lived
in the 1400s. Statues of saints would have been
on the podiums around the walls, if not for the French Revolution

Some other small carvings in the chapel

Even just what remains today is quite impressive. An American architect specializing in the Medieval period, Kenneth Conant, worked at Cluny from 1928 to 1938 and began the investigations into the site, which is now a major attraction for history-minded tourists and river cruise guests.

This is a view back from that archway toward
the belltower.

One of the buildings currently in use in Cluny houses the Museum, and one of the large administrative

buildings is now a College for Mathematics and Physics. Would-be students have to take exams to get into the college fpr a 3 year course.

The college is in this building

After our visit to the Abbey, we walked into the old part of town to visit what would have been a home about 500 years ago. In this 'townhouse' we were treated to a piano concert on what is known as a tangent piano that dates back to the late 1700s.

The house we visited for our concert

The most interesting piano. Sounds very much like
a clavichord, and has knee levers instead of pedals

It was another very interesting experience that we would not have had without Tauck.

On our way back to the bus we had some nice views of some of the other old structures of the abbey.

Cluny is also known as a site for many events, including an annual equestrian competitions. There was one coming up on the next weekend, and many horses and riders were already here practicing.

It was a very interesting tour day, and we endured our fairly long bus ride back to the ship for a late lunch. Did you notice that there was blue sky and no rain??? That was only because it was Cluny. On the way back to Lyon it clouded over again. We were able to sit up on the forward outside deck for a while in the afternoon as the rain held off.