Brioude and the Basilica of St. Julian

Churches in France are significant places to visit not only because they are/were religious places of worship, but they are/were at the center of life for the townspeople.  Likewise, they are historical buildings and museums illustrating and preserving the art of their time.

Brioude hosts the Gothic-style Basilica of St. Julian, which was built between the 11th-14th centuries. Classified as an historic monument, the basilica is very colorful using a mixture of red sandstone, limestone, basalt, and marble. Most interesting are the many colorful columns. 

The floors are covered with paving pebbles that form geometric shapes and or ornamental designs and motifs.


 

















 

The Virgin of Chariol is a 14th century sculpture made of volcanic stone.












 
 A rare 15th century polychrome wood sculpture of the Virgin lying down ready to give birth is also featured. This Virgin may have possibly been part of a crèche scene with other persons grouped around her. Its artistic value is in "the serenity of her face and ease of movement of her arms."

 This jolly fellow tops the capital of one of the basilica's columns.

 

The basilica still has many colorful frescoes intact, which illustrates the sometimes overlooked importance of painters of Middle Age churches.

The basilica is dedicated to St. Julian of Antioch (d. 305), a Roman senator who was venerated as a Christian martyr in the fourth century during the persecutions of Diocletian. According to legend, he was subjected to terrible tortures and paraded daily for a whole year through various cities of Cilicia. He was then sewn up in a sack half-filled with scorpions, sand, and vipers, and cast into the sea. The sea carried his body to Alexandria, and he was buried there before being moved to Antioch. Some of his ashes are allegedly kept in a small chapel underneath the altar of the basilica.  

Eparchius Avitus is buried next to Saint Julian. He was a Roman senator and a high-ranking officer both in the civil and military administration, as well as Bishop of Piacenza. The Gallo-Roman aristocrat opposed the reduction of the Western Roman Empire to Italy alone, both politically and administratively. He was the Western Roman Emperor 455-456.

This caryatid is simple but compelling. It also gives me a headache just to look at it.












The narrow streets of the Centre Ville have many interesting old buildings, arches, and decorations dating back to the Renaissance.

 


 

This Gothic house was built in the 15th or 16th century. Today, it is the House of Mandrin, which now serves as an art gallery and exhibition place.

The stone work is simple but intriguing. 











This band was warming up for the celebration in the courtyard in front of the church where the Christmas market and food stalls were located for the holidays and a foot race. 

History of Brioude from Wikipedia:
Brioude lies on the banks of the River Allier, a tributary of the Loire. Its population is just under 7,000 people. The ancient Brivas can be traced to the 4th century. It was taken by the Franks, then in turn besieged and captured by the Goths (532), the Burgundians, the Saracens (732) and the Normans^. Carolingian Brioude remained a place of some importance: William I of Aquitaine minted deniers at Brioude. Louis V of France married Adelaide of Anjou there in 980, and they were crowned King and Queen of Aquitaine. The feast of Saint Julian, 28 August, drew such crowds to the saint's relics that in the mid-11th century the chapter was obliged to build a hostel to care for the indigent pilgrim and the sick. In 1181 Eracle III, viscount of Polignac (near Le Puy), who had sacked the town two years previously, made public apology in front of the church and established a body of 25 knights to defend the relics of St Julian. For some time after 1361 the town was the headquarters of Bérenger, lord of Castelnau, who was at the head of one of the bands of military adventurers which then devastated France. The knights (or canons, as they afterwards became) of St. Julian bore the title of counts of Brioude and for a long time opposed themselves to the civic liberties of the inhabitants. 
 
 
Auvergnat language is a language or dialect spoken in France in part of the Massif Central where Brioude is located and in most of Auvergne, the province that gives it its name. 




Brioude was a place I had long wanted to visit. It is only an hour northwest of Le Puy, and it courses through some very pretty countryside with hills and rocky terrain.  Of course, navigating the city--even with GPS--is not easy. First of all, you need to distinguish between "Old Brioude" and Brioude, which was our destination. Usually, you get your bearings for a city by looking for signs that point to "Centre Ville," the older part of the city. A church and historic buildings are usually there. However, the road signs were not clear about where the Centre Ville was, and we couldn't find the church just by looking up. Finally, by chance, we found not only the Centre Ville but a huge parking lot. Good thing, too, because many roads in the Centre Ville were blocked due to the town's foot race for kids. It's never easy in France! However, once you get to where you want to go, you are delighted, as we were in Brioude.

We parked the car and found an elevator that took us up into the city. We met a man who highly recommended Cardigan's Restaurant on Place Lafayette. So we plowed through the crowds that were gathered around the race's finish line, found our destination, and weren't in the least disappointed.


Salad, pesto pasta with shrimp, and hamburger. Delicious!! And Santa Claus was our server!

Brioude was well worth the effort to get there !!