Our second, and last, medieval village for the day is Ambierle. It is slightly different from Le Crozet because the land owner here was not a noble but a Benedictine Abbey. As such instead of a castle there is an abbey on top of the hill that we have to climb to from the parking which is far below, at least in the mind of our tired feet.
We are happy when we reach the impressive entrance into the former abbey area. The gatekeeper was staying above the gate, quite good probably for late night travellers. Immediately post gate we see the impressive church which is the major tourist attraction in Ambierle.
And in we go into the this huge church, for this small village that is. It is in Gothic style however it also has quite a few flamboyant details like the 15th century stained glass windows.
It has some interesting informative panels, we find out that the first Catholic bishop in Texas was born in Ambierle, quite a coincidence really. Also surprising is that we are the only visitors at least in the beginning, while impressive and probably a future Unesco World Heritage Site most people do not stop here for now.
One of the major attractions in the church is the polychrome wood altar from the 15th century attributed to the Flemish school painter Rogier van der Weyden. The altar and large stained glass windows are protected by a closed metallic fence so we understand that they are quite valuable, great that they were not moved to a different site or a museum!
Around this time another group enters the church so we decide to exit into the small interior courtyard. It is smaller than we expected so we re-enter soon, it is time to explore the small free museum.
The museum is in a small hallway that we initially assume is a storage area but then notice has multiple display cases. There are some interesting maps, information panels and old statues and we spend some time just examining the various items.
To our surprise the passage leads to the city hall, we even take a look inside as we cannot believe but yes the museum opens up into government offices on the other side. So we return back to the church via the passage as we are not sure if we can find the exit through the city hall.
As we exit we close the door, as it was when we arrived, and then it seems that the other group has some issues to open it, not really sure why. But we let them sort it out while we continue following the hill rim and enjoying the nice views.
From this side there are some impressive views of the main abbey building which is adjacent and contiguous with the church we just visited. In fact as we look at it we start to understand that the main abbey building is now the city hall we just entered via the interior passage. And it would have had an exit towards this area, oh well you live and learn. We continue on down towards the parking lot and then it is a longer drive now towards our next stop the Pet d’Ane, the largest meander on the Loire River.
