Hollow echoes of power

For the last few days, my thoughts have been with Beaune and the surrounding area in Burgundy.  But thinking about Beaune and its well-preserved status has reminded me of another region that lies close to Geneva, much closer even than Beaune.  Unlike Beaune, where religious orders devoted themselves to sheltering, feeding and caring for the poor and the sick so that the region generally survived the ravages of the French Revolution, this area was not so fortunate.  I am speaking of Cluny. 

The town of Cluny grew up around the Benedictine Abbey that was founded there in 910.  The photo below shows a drawing of the Abbey in its heyday.

From its early monastic roots, the abbey at Cluny evolved into a major center of religious and political power.  The abbot of Cluny was considered to be almost as powerful as the Pope in Rome.  In fact, several of Cluny's abbots later became Popes.  The abbots of Cluny were almost literally as powerful as the monarchy in France and Cluny Abbey became perhaps the wealthiest monastery in the Western world.  Managers and laborers were hired to do the work there, instead of the monks themselves, as was generally the case elsewhere.

Despite the monastic vows of poverty of the brothers, the abbey in Cluny was able to afford utensils and candelabra of solid silver.  Gold goblets encrusted with precious gems were used on the altars.  Instead of broth and porridge which was the traditional monastic fare -- and also that which the laborers in and outside the monastery had to eat, when they had anything to eat at all -- the brothers ate very well.  They often enjoyed roasted chickens, which were luxuries in medieval France, wines from their vineyards, and cheeses made by their employees.   Instead of the traditional rough monastic garments, the brothers wore habits of the finest linen.   Fine silk vestments were worn at Mass.  Many items that are mementos of Cluny Abbey's former wealth are today on display at the Musée de Cluny in Paris.

The blatantly posh lifestyle could not be continued.  One reason was because Cluny Abbey kept trying to finance reconstruction projects, so that it ultimately fell deeply into debt.  It was also identified with the monarchy and the hated Ancien Régime.  Taken together with the reputed excesses at the monastery, these reasons were enough to make Cluny Abbey a target for destruction during the French Revolution.  Its archives were burned in 1793 and its buildings were plundered thereafter.   It was almost totally demolished by 1810.  Today, only the southern bell-tower of the large transept still exists.  It represents less than 10% of the surface of Cluny III.  Cluny III was the largest church of Christendom, until the construction of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, five centuries later.

It is still worth a visit.  Some of the cloister arches are there today.

One can also see models of what the Abbey and its complex used to look like.   The fact that we know as much about it today as we do is in large part due to excavation efforts there begun in 1927 by Kenneth J. Conant, of Harvard University.