The Cluny town is located on the east-central France north-northwest of Lyon. It also called Clugny and grew up around the Benedictine Cluny Abbey founded in AD 910 was the centre of an influential religious order.

Cluny Museum

At the beginning it just a village when the abbey was founded, but gradually Cluny increased its importance with the development of the religious fraternity. In 1474 the town was taken by the troops of Louis XI. In 1529 the abbey was given “in commendam” to the family of Guise which held the office of abbot during the next hundred years. Around the 16th century the town and abbey suffered during the Wars of Religion and the abbey was closed in 1790.

During the middle Ages, the Cluny library was one of the most important in France and Europe. In 1562, many of the valuable manuscripts were destroyed or removed, because the abbey was sacked by Huguenots.

Cluny has grown up around the remains, the Bourgogne Hotel has been built near to the abbey in fact you can visit some of the 18th century cellars by wine tasting at Le Cellier del’Abbaye. Rue Lamartine has attractive shops, including the chocolate maker Germain and there are plenty of little restaurants with terraces to soak up the atmosphere.

Cluny has become a Regional Horse-Riding Pole with a number of horse riding events and the National Stud Farm with thoroughbred stallions for breeding racing stock. Arab and French horses can all be viewed. In addition the small university town of Cluny, houses the prestigious Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts and Métiers in the abbey buildings. So many generalist engineers in mechanical and industrial engineering are training by the school.

 The peaches and cream walls of the old buildings give to the Cluny town a Mediterranean touch. So it’s easy to see why artists and artisans, poets and writers are attracted around the town, which houses Romanesque churches, picturesque villages and river valleys. The medieval architecture include its celebrated abbey, the Gothic church of Notre-Dame, the church of St. Marcel with its beautiful Romanesque spire and a number of picturesque houses of Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance periods. The town has quarries of limestone and building-stone, and manufactures pottery, leather and paper.

Journey into the past and imagine the time when Cluny was the light of the Western World, taking a stroll through the streets. The summer concerts are staged at the Abbey.