The Abbey-Church Saint-Austremoine in Issoire

It’s one of the largest churches in the Basse Auvergne region, 65m long and 17m high. This abbey church, built in arkose (blond sandstone), corresponds to the typical plan of pilgrimage churches, with a chevet featuring an ambulatory and radiating chapels over a crypt housing the 12th-century hunt of Saint-Austremoine.(…)

It’s one of the largest churches in the Basse Auvergne region, 65m long and 17m high. This abbey church, built in arkose (blond sandstone), corresponds to the typical plan of pilgrimage churches, with a chevet featuring an ambulatory and radiating chapels over a crypt housing the 12th-century hunt of Saint-Austremoine. The church is remarkable for the layering of its volumes and the richness of its chevet decoration: columns, capitals, modillions, mosaics with geometric motifs, medallions carved with the signs of the zodiac, and so on. The interior is surprisingly polychrome, with magnificent historiated capitals (cycle of the Passion and Resurrection of Christ) in the choir. It also houses a 15th-century painting of the Last Judgment in the room to the right of the entrance (boutique).

For children aged 6 to 12: a booklet-game “raconte-moi l’abbatiale Saint-Austremoine à Issoire” (“tell me about the Saint-Austremoine abbey church in Issoire”) produced by the Pays d’Art et d’Histoire is available free of charge from the Accueil Tourisme (Place St Paul, right next to the abbey church).

Guided tours for individuals in July and August (see our diary) and guided tours for groups all year round on reservation at the Tourist Office.