Photo spot in Vézelay & the Morvan
The basilica of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine
A twelfth-century Cluniac pilgrimage church at the top of the hill, with a nave built in alternating pale and dark stone and light running down it from the east.
About The basilica of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine
Get directionsSainte-Marie-Madeleine crowns the ridge at Vézelay and is one of the great Romanesque churches of France. The narthex carries a carved tympanum of Christ sending out the apostles; beyond it the nave runs long and high, built in alternating courses of pale and darker limestone with plain transverse arches and carved capitals down both sides. Viollet-le-Duc rescued the building from collapse in the 1840s, which is why it is still standing and why the stone looks as clean as it does.
The interior is the reason to come. Light enters from the east and travels the length of the nave; on clear days around the summer solstice the midday sun drops a line of light patches along the central axis, which is the frame people plan trips around. On any bright morning the effect is milder but still there. The stone is pale enough to bounce light, so the nave photographs well without anything added.
Outside, the west front is nineteenth-century restoration work and reads flat in the middle of the day; the south flank and the east end are better, and the whole building is at its best in the low sun of early morning or late afternoon.
It is a working church with free entry, cared for by a religious community. Services take priority and a session waits them out and stays quiet; rules on tripods and commercial photography are theirs to set, so ask before the day rather than at the door.
Best time to shoot
Bright mid-morning for the nave; early or late for the exterior. Midsummer noon for the light on the axis
Tips
It's a working church — services come first and a session waits them out. Ask the community about tripods and commercial shoots in advance. The pale stone bounces light; the nave needs nothing added.
Other spots in Vézelay & the Morvan
Rue Saint-Pierre, the village street
The one street of Vézelay, climbing between ochre-rendered houses and carved stone lintels from the lower gate to the basilica.
The château terrace over the Cure valley
A grass belvedere on the site of the abbots' old castle, immediately behind the basilica, looking out over the whole Cure valley.
The Morvan lakes on the Cure
Wooded reservoir lakes in the granite hills south-east of Vézelay, fed by the same river you look down on from the terrace.
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Our concierge team will hand-pick 2-3 photographers who know The basilica of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine — free of charge.