Royal Abbey of Saint-Germain d'Auxerre, Benedictine abbey in Auxerre, France.
The Abbey of Saint-Germain d'Auxerre is a former Benedictine monastery in Auxerre. Its Gothic church, rebuilt from 1277, has a steep dark roof and a smaller spire over the crossing. The surviving south Romanesque tower, known as the Saint-Jean tower, rises in pale stone with tall lancet openings and a slender pointed spire. The crypt holds ninth-century wall frescoes.
Saint Germain of Auxerre, bishop from 418 to 448, was buried in 448 in the Oratory of Saint Maurice he had founded; by the end of that century it was called Saint-Germain. Queen Clotilda, wife of Clovis, rebuilt it as a basilica around 500. In 841-865 a new 100-metre church was built, and in 859 Germain's relics were translated into the crypt. The abbey school, with masters such as Heiric and Remigius (876-883), made it a centre of the Carolingian renaissance.
The abbey church still hosts worship, including an Orthodox parish of Saint Luke the Evangelist and Saint Germain. In 1927, beneath 17th-century frescoed plaster in the crypt, ninth-century wall paintings were found, the only surviving large-scale paintings of their date in France comparable to illuminated manuscripts.
Visitors should expect to explore underground passages with stairs and narrow corridors. Bring a light source to better see the details in the older chambers below ground.
Bishops of the city were traditionally buried within these grounds, turning it into an important burial ground. Multiple tombs spanning centuries are preserved here, marking the final resting places of church leaders.
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