France
Tournus
Tournus: A Romanesque Abbey Town on the Saône
Tournus is a small town on the Saône in Burgundy, and for more than eleven centuries its life has turned on the abbey of Saint-Philibert. The abbey church, with its crypt, its upper chapel and a medieval floor mosaic of the zodiac, is the reason to come. A market is held every Saturday morning, so a Saturday call adds it to the walk.
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Good to know
Arriving in Tournus
Your cruise line will tell you where the ship ties up on the Saône at Tournus, a small town on the river's right bank north of Mâcon. Head first for the abbey of Saint-Philibert, the town's landmark, with the tourist office beside it.
- The railway station has regional trains to Chalon-sur-Saône, Dijon, Mâcon and Lyon.
- The town stands where the Mâconnais, the Chalonnais and the Bresse meet.
Tournus on Your Own
Tournus is a small town, and the abbey, the old hospital and the town hall square are close together in the old center.
- The abbey church: Inside Saint-Philibert, tall round columns carry a nave roofed with a row of small barrel vaults set across it rather than along it. The crypt below the choir is reached by stairs from the north transept, and its end columns are reused Roman pieces.
- The upper chapel: Above the entrance hall, or narthex, is the chapel of Saint-Michel, built in the first half of the 11th century.
- The abbey buildings: Much of the monastery survives around the church, including the refectory, the cellar, the cloister and the chapter house.
- The Hôtel-Dieu: The 17th-century hospital on rue de l'Hôpital has three large wards, two chapels and an apothecary from about 1685, with carved, gilded woodwork made to hold its earthenware drug jars. Check its opening days before you go.
- The town hall square: The town hall was built from 1777 to 1779, and a statue of Greuze by the local sculptor Bénédict Rougelet has stood in the square since 1868.
- Getting back on time: All-aboard is usually about 30 minutes before sailing, and your ship posts the exact time. A ship will not wait for passengers touring on their own.
- Carry ID: In France you must be able to prove your identity when asked, so carry your passport or another accepted ID.
Tipping in France
Tips are not expected in France, because the cost of service is included by law in menu prices. The currency is the euro.
- A tip is a thank-you for outstanding service, not an obligation.
- When people do tip, they often just round the bill up.
Organs, Films and Stone
Tournus lives with its abbey: the church still holds services, hosts an organ festival and keeps the relics of its founding saint. The town also runs an animated film festival every December.
- Orgue en Ascension: Since 2008 the town and parish have held an organ festival over several days at Ascension, played on the abbey's historic organ of 1629, the oldest in the diocese of Autun.
- Animated film: An animated film festival has been held in the first week of December since 1980.
- The relics: Saint Philibert's remains are kept in the choir in a reliquary by the artist Goudji. In 1998 thieves took the saint's skull and two of his bones.
- A language line: Tournus lies on the old boundary between the northern French dialects and Franco-Provençal.
A Brief History
Tournus began as a Roman post on the Saône and became a monastic town when monks carrying the relics of Saint Philibert settled here in 875. The abbey shaped the town for more than nine centuries.
- A Roman depot: The Romans kept fodder and grain for their legions in a garrison on the Saône here, and the Burgundians occupied the town in the first half of the fifth century.
- Fleeing the Vikings, 875: Monks of Noirmoutier, the island off the Loire where the first recorded Viking raid on continental Europe struck in 799, left with the relics of Saint Philibert. After decades on the move, they were given Tournus by Charles the Bald in 875.
- Raids and fire: Hungarian raiders damaged the abbey in the 930s, and a fire in 1006 led to a long rebuilding.
- The Romanesque church, 1008 to 1120: The choir was consecrated in 1019, the narthex and the chapel of Saint-Michel followed between 1028 and 1056, and Pope Calixtus II consecrated a rebuilt choir in 1120. The nave's cross-set barrel vaults were added around 1240.
- Wars of religion: Huguenots sacked the abbey in 1562, and in 1627 the monks gave way to a college of canons, which was itself dissolved in 1785.
- Revolution: In 1793 and 1794 the church was used for the Revolution's civic cults, first as a Temple of Reason. It returned to Catholic worship in 1802.
- Napoleon, 1815: Tournus resisted the invading allies in 1814. On his return from Elba, Napoleon stopped here on 14 March 1815 and awarded the town the Legion of Honor.
- Railway and heritage: The church was on the 1840 list of historic monuments, and the Paris-Lyon railway reached Tournus in 1854.
- The Second World War: German troops entered the town on 18 June 1940. The demarcation line then ran a few kilometers north, leaving Tournus in the unoccupied zone, and the town was liberated on 4 September 1944.
- To learn more ashore: The Hôtel-Dieu on rue de l'Hôpital keeps its old wards and apothecary, along with a room of paintings by Greuze.
Tournus with Children
Tournus is a short, easy walk for families, and the abbey has enough hidden corners to keep children looking. Mix the church with the old hospital or the bicycle museum depending on ages.
- Younger children: In the crypt, the rough vaults still show the marks of the wooden planks used to shape them about a thousand years ago.
- School age: A late 12th-century floor mosaic of the zodiac and the months, rediscovered in 2000, can be seen from a walkway in the upper ambulatory around the choir. Four of its medallions survive: Gemini, Cancer, a horseman with a falcon and a haymaking scene.
- Teenagers: The Michel Grezaud bicycle museum traces the bicycle from the early running machine to the modern racer. At the Hôtel-Dieu, the second apothecary's shelves are empty because its jars were smashed by Austrian troops on the evening of 19 February 1814.
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