Paray-le-Monial is a French commune located in the Saône-et-Loire department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region. It is nicknamed the city "of the Sacred Heart".
Paray-le-Monial has a Tourist Office. The city is classified as a
city of art and history. It is also a Flower City awarded four
flowers.
There are eight hotels in Paray-le-Monial, three of
which have two stars (133 rooms), three have three stars (88 rooms)
and two are not classified (111 rooms). A four-star campsite offers
157 places. In neighboring municipalities, there are other hotels
and accommodation possibilities (bed and breakfast, camping).
Sports facilities include a nautical center (indoor swimming
pool for winter and a nautical center in summer).
Places and
monuments
Among the most important monuments we find:
Basilica
of the Sacred Heart of Paray-le-Monial
The narthex dates from the
end of the 11th century, and the church dates from the 12th - 14th,
a masterpiece of Romanesque art, and is the best preserved model of
Cluniac architecture in Burgundy. The church was built in the 12th
century by Hugues de Semur, the most important of the abbots of
Cluny. The cloister is attached to the basilica and has a
medieval-inspired garden. An association, the Friends of the
Basilica of Paray-le-Monial, aims to promote the basilica and more
generally Romanesque art, in particular by organizing a conference
each year in October.
the Château du Doyenné;
the town
hall, housed in the old Jayet house, has a Renaissance-style facade
built between 1525 and 1528 and clad to older structures. The facade
consists, vertically, of seven successive decorative bands, which
reveal numerous sculpted medallions, in particular the portraits of
Pierre Jayet and his wife. The balusters above the door, the
decorative shells and the musicians' putti are influenced by Italian
art;
the chapel of the monastery of the Visitation, built in
1633, known as the Chapel of the Apparitions. It is in this place
that the visitandine Saint Marguerite-Marie received the Apparitions
of the Heart of Jesus between 1673 and 1675;
the Saint-Nicolas
tower (16th century), a former parish church consecrated in 1535. A
massive bell tower was added around 1549. The turret, perched
corbelled on the gable, bears the 1658 vintage. It was reduced to
its current volume in the 19th century century. Over time, it has
experienced various functions such as prison, guardhouse or common
house. Transformed into a town hall during the Revolution, until
1858, it now houses exhibitions;
the Eucharistic Museum of
Hiéron, classified museum of France. This museum is the oldest
museum of sacred art in France built as such. It was built in the
19th century on the initiative of the Jesuit Victor Drevon
(1820-1880) and Baron Alexis de Sarachaga (1840-1918). Closed during
the 1990s, the museum was completely renovated by the municipality
and reopened in 2005. Today it presents a rich collection of works
of art around the theme of the Eucharist: paintings, sculptures,
liturgical objects… A national treasure has come to enrich its
collections: the Via Vitae or “Chemin de vie” (1894-1904) by the
Parisian silversmith Joseph Chaumet;
the covered market, a
monument dating from the beginning of the 20th century, transformed
into a shopping arcade. The construction of the covered market,
completed in 1901, is due to Benoît Crétin, mayor. The market is 37
meters long and 11 wide. It consists of eight metal trusses which
rest on cast iron columns;
several convents: the monastery of the
Visitation founded in 1626, the monastery of St. Clare founded in
1878, the Carmel founded in 1901 and the monastery of the Most Holy
Rosary, founded in 1929, welcoming a community of Dominican nuns
affiliated to the federation Our Lady of the Preachers;
la
Colombière chapel: this Jesuit chapel, listed as a Historic Monument
in 2012, houses the relics of Saint Claude La Colombière, spiritual
director of Saint Marguerite-Marie. It was erected in 1929 by the
Jesuits shortly after the beatification of Father La Colombière.
Simple in appearance, it is enriched inside by mosaics and stained
glass windows made by the Mauméjean brothers. The capitals are by
Henri Charlier. This chapel has the particularity of having an
organ;
the Paul-Charnoz museum, known as the “ceramic museum”,
brings together vestiges and testimonies on the industrial ceramics
activity of Paray-le-Monial. A fresco and a monumental rose window
are presented there, jewels of French industrial and decorative
ceramics, made in tiles designed by inlay, Gold Medal and Hors
Concours at the Universal Exhibitions of Paris in 1889 and 1900;
the Contemporary Mosaic House: a cultural place open to all,
exhibitions follow one another throughout the year. A video "The
Mosaic ... what a story!" »Traces the history of mosaics, explains
tools, materials and techniques and describes various aspects of
contemporary mosaic;
the Notre-Dame priory, listed as a historic monument.
The
town also has several gardens and parks:
the cloister garden: it
is located in the old monastery which accommodated the Cluniac monks
until the Revolution. The façade of the priory presents the
characteristics of classical art from the 17th and 18th centuries:
triangular pediment with the Cluny coat of arms, dormers, griffins
and vintage cartouches. The large ribbed vaulted galleries offered
the monks a space for prayer, meditation and work. In the center,
the garden recalls the allure of medieval gardens;
the Moulin
Liron park: located between the Canal du Center and the Bourbince,
the park takes its name from an old mill known since the sixteenth
century. In the eighteenth century it became a renowned “hostelry”,
destroyed during the construction of the Canal du Center. The 15 ha
park. was created for the arrival of Pope John Paul II in 1986.
Today nearly 850 trees and conifers line the one kilometer
promenade. It includes a fitness trail and is located at the start
of the greenway which runs along the Bourbince, offering a natural
and unspoiled setting;
the Parc des Chapelains: in 1889, the
Maison des Chapelains was installed on the foundations of the former
castle of the abbots of Cluny. The park was created to accommodate
pilgrims since the bicentenary of the Apparitions in 1875. In 1890,
two paths of plane trees were planted to form a cross and create a
veritable cathedral of greenery. Around 1902, a dome was erected in
its center, where the festivals are still celebrated. This space of
nature and silence is on the east side of the basilica;
the
Saint-Hugues garden: it hosts more than 500 rose bushes, in bloom
from May until frost;
the park of Verneuil: this park welcomes
under its foliage white flowers in all seasons and is bordered by
plane trees which form a majestic vault, often compared to a vegetal
cathedral;
the square of 19-March-1962: this square is decorated
with a mosaic commissioned in 1997 by the city from members of the
Paul Charnoz association. This wall decoration, made up of 165,141
ceramic stoneware tiles, presents the architectural, industrial and
economic heritage of the city: Saint-Nicolas tower, railway, canal,
basilica, town hall, ceramic industry and Charolais breeding;
the
post office garden: in this small garden sits a mosaic representing
a peacock made in 2008 by “Mozaïsm”, a group of young international
artists. The peacock has long been the emblem of the city;
the
garden on the banks of the Bourbince: this garden, planted with
various white flowering shrubs, offers a new view of the basilica.
Each summer the different varieties of plants used for the flowering
of the city are presented there;
the Émile-Debroise garden: this
garden of peonies, shrubs, hybrids or herbs, is dedicated to Emile
Debroise (1902-1992);
Bellevue gardens and PLM cities: PLM
cities, the first collective housing, marked the history of the
city. Located at the heart of this 1930s architecture, this "Garden
Garden" is inspired by the railway gardens of yesteryear or the
allotment gardens nearby. Each garden is associated with a color
that gives it its identity: yellow, red, peach / cream, orange,
mauve, pink, purple, blue and white. Each entrance is marked by a
pergola dressed in climbing plants which “announce the color”.
Pilgrimage
In the 17th century, Christ is said to have
appeared to a nun, Marguerite-Marie Alacoque, born in a surrounding
village and a nun in the monastery of the Visitation. During three
great apparitions, he would have presented his heart to her "Here is
this heart which has loved men so much and which receives in
exchange only ingratitudes from those who are consecrated to it".
Very quickly, Marguerite-Marie received the support and spiritual
advice of a Jesuit, Claude La Colombière. From Paray-le-Monial, was
born a gigantic devotion, called the cult of the Sacred Heart.
Pilgrimages are born in Paray-Le-Monial and shrines are built all
over the world, the most famous (in France) being the Basilica of
the Sacred Heart of Montmartre.
This pilgrimage, which had
seemed to fall into relative oblivion, is a great success. The
charismatic renewal made its first session there in 1975 which was
continued by numerous meetings animated by the Emmanuel community,
including the organization of two Christian festivals of
international level in 1987 and 1988. Pope John Paul II came there
on pilgrimage on October 5, 1986. In 1986, Mgr Armand Le Bourgeois,
Bishop of Autun, entrusted the care of this place to the Emmanuel
Community. The number of pilgrims continues to grow and gatherings
follow one another during the summer but also throughout the year.
In 2016, around 30,000 pilgrims were welcomed at Paray le
Monial.
It was after coming to Paray-le-Monial in 1989 that Cyprien and Daphrose Rugamba decided to create the Emmanuel community in Rwanda.
The origins
In all likelihood, Paray-le-Monial
finds its origins in the construction at the top of a hill (the
current district of Survaux), in a bushy valley then called "Val
d'Or", of a priory and a church consecrated in 977. This
construction was planned around 971 by Count Lambert, first
hereditary count of Châlon-sur-Saône, son of Robert, viscount of
Autun and faithful to King Charles the Simple, in agreement with
Saint Maïeul, Abbot of Cluny until 994, in "recognition of the
blessings of God towards him".
His son Hugues I of Chalon,
canon of Autun, who became count of Châlon-sur-Saône in 988, donated
this Foundation to the abbey of Cluny in 999 when he was consecrated
bishop of Auxerre.
Subsequently, Saint Odilon, who was abbot
of Cluny until 1049, established the monks on the banks of the
Bourbince where they built a new church. His successor, Hugues de
Semur, abbot of Cluny from 1049 to 1109, who had a new abbey church
built in Cluny (Cluny III), judging it insufficient at the time, had
it transformed by the builders of Cluny III into a basilica which is
the one that we can admire nowadays.
It is probable that the
sites initiated by the monks at this time attracted the populations
of the surrounding hills and that the regrouping of these two
communities was at the origin of the parodian agglomeration.
In 1877, Paul Charnoz, chemical engineer, created a ceramic
production company in Paray-le-Monial. Born in 1845, married in
1872, he previously worked for his father in Dresden (Saxony). He
chooses Paray-le-Monial because he finds the city welcoming but
above all because of the high quality clay quarries located nearby.
The sources of energy are also close with the mines of
Montceau-les-Mines. The waterways (central canal) and the railway
provide transport. Paul Charnoz has developed tiles designed by
incrustation in the thickness (therefore not only painted on the
surface). In 1886, about fifty people worked in the company But the
lack of profitability led, in 1891, to sell the company to the
company Utzscheinder-Jaunez. This new owner develops the company by
industrializing it.
During the First World War the situation
became difficult. The production is oriented towards the needs of
national defense. After the war, business is going well, six
factories are operating. In 1921, the company took the name of
CERABATI (Entreprise Générale de la Céramique du Bâtiment). The
second war brought about significant difficulties but the company
set out again and, in 1950, it reached its maximum, employing around
900 people. Technical developments followed with the mechanization
of workshops, with electric ovens replacing coal ovens; they ensure
good financial health through the agency. The difficulties began in
1976, with the increase in the price of energy and declining demand.
At the start of the 1990s, Paray-Céramique took the place of
CERABATI. As of December 31, 2005, the activity ended.
The
Paul Charnoz Museum, created in 1993, presents the history of Paul
Charnoz and the company.
The former offices of Cerabati house
the M’comme mosaic association, a place of exhibition and training
in contemporary mosaic.
In Paray le Monial, the business park in the north of the town
includes several sectors: that of Charmes located in the ZAC des
Charmes and on the extension of the ZAC des Charmes; the Champ Bossu
sector, located on the ZAC extension of Champ Bossu.
The
Charmes concerted development zone is a mixed development operation
(individual housing, economic and commercial activity, Hospital
sector). launched in 1998 by the town of Paray-le-Monial and granted
to the SEMA (mixed development company). It aims on 20.5 hectares to
establish a hospital center (72,600 m2), commercial activities
(92,760 m2, housing (45,600 m2)).
The Champ Bossu extension
was implemented in 2000. This new development operation for economic
and commercial activity covers 8.89 ha (construction of
approximately 38,500 square meters). This transaction is granted by
the municipality of Paray-le-Monial to SEMA.
The extension of
the initial zone of began in 2003 (expected end of 2025). It
concerns 17 ha (habitat and activity).