Chapelle Saint-Michel d'Aiguilhe

The Chapelle Saint-Michel d'Aiguilhe is one of the most striking sights in France: a small Romanesque chapel perched on the very top of a needle of volcanic rock that shoots up from the town of Le Puy-en-Velay. The rock, a basalt volcanic plug about eighty-five metres high, is what remains of the core of an ancient volcano, whose softer material has been worn away, and the chapel sits on its summit like a nest. A narrow staircase of about 270 steps, cut into the rock, winds up to the entrance, and the climb is part of the experience.

The site has been sacred for a very long time. According to tradition, a pagan temple stood on the rock, and the remains of earlier worship were found here. The chapel was built from the middle of the tenth century by Bishop Godescalc of Le Puy, who had made a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in 950, one of the first recorded pilgrimages from France to Spain, and who is associated with the creation of the Via Podiensis, the route that starts at Le Puy and is the best known of the French pilgrim roads. The chapel was consecrated in 962 and dedicated to Saint Michael, the archangel often venerated on high places. Le Puy remained a major starting point for pilgrims for centuries.

The building has two main parts. The older, pre-Romanesque core is irregular in shape, because it follows the contours of the rock, and its ambulatory curves around the summit. In the twelfth century, the chapel was enlarged with a nave, side chapels and a porch on the western side, and a bell tower was added that rises above the rock. The carved doorway of the porch shows Moorish influence in its coloured stones and interlaced designs, a feature typical of the Velay and linked to the exchange of artistic ideas along the pilgrim roads. Inside, the walls preserve fragments of wall paintings from the tenth and eleventh centuries, among the oldest in France, and the atmosphere is intimate and cool.

The chapel is a protected historic monument and has often been voted among the favourite monuments of the French. The views from the rock are superb, with the old town of Le Puy, the cathedral and the statue of Notre-Dame de France on the Corneille rock opposite spread out below, and the volcanic hills of the Velay beyond. A short walk from the foot of the rock leads through the lanes of the Aiguilhe district. Le Puy itself has the Cathédrale Notre-Dame, a Romanesque and Byzantine-influenced church listed by UNESCO, the Musée Crozatier and the Musée du Velay, and the town is also known for its lace, its green lentils and a herbal liqueur, the verveine du Velay. The Parc des Volcans d'Auvergne begins to the north.

The chapel suits walkers, pilgrims, photographers and lovers of medieval art. The climb is steep, with uneven steps, so wear good shoes and take your time. Opening arrangements vary by season, and the interior is small, so queues can form in summer.