historical - unusual
Discover the stories and legends of this monument.
38 m long and 12 m high: the monolithic church – that is to say carved out of a single block of stone – is absolutely worth the detour during your visit to Greater Saint-Emilion.
The monolithic church is a underground religious building dug at the beginning of the 68th century in impressive proportions. If it is revealed to the eyes of the visitor by the position of a XNUMX meter high bell tower, it then hides behind the elegance of three large "windows" on the facade and an often closed Gothic portal (because it is guided tour only that you can enter this underground church for an unforgettable experience). This church is as surprising as it is fragile! At the heart of the city, the monolithic church recalls the religious activity of the city in the Middle Ages and intrigues with its unusual design.
For nearly a millennium, between the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries, the stone quarries have multiplied in the limestone plateau of Saint-Émilion. Quarriers worked tirelessly to extract millions of blocks of stone for large construction sites from Saint-Émilion to Bordeaux. This exploitation left an immense network of 80 ha of underground galleries, constituting a giant maze of almost 200 km accumulated. The monolithic church remains today the most emblematic building of this extraction of limestone. It was surely sponsored to support the development of the city around a pilgrimage activity to the tomb of the patron saint Saint-Emilion.
Don't wait for book your guided tour and discover this spectacular place!
