Musée Saint-Germain

The Musée Saint-Germain occupies the buildings of the old abbey of Saint-Germain, which stands on the bank of the Yonne in Auxerre, and the visit combines a museum with some of the most important early medieval remains in France. The abbey grew up around the tomb of Saint Germain, the bishop of Auxerre who died in 448, and by the Middle Ages it was one of the most powerful Benedictine houses in Burgundy. The monastery buildings that you see today, arranged around a cloister, date mainly from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, after the community rebuilt its monastic quarters.

The archaeology collections tell the story of the town and the region from prehistory to the end of the Middle Ages. A large room is devoted to the Gallo-Roman period, when Auxerre, then called Autessiodurum, was a prosperous town on the road from Lyon to the north, and the objects include pottery, glass, stone carvings, metalwork, mosaics and offerings found in tombs. A second area covers the early Middle Ages, with jewellery, weapons and ornaments from Merovingian cemeteries in the region, which show the skill of craftsmen of the period and give an idea of burial customs. A third room, the scriptorium, is devoted to the art of the medieval manuscript. It explains how monks copied and illuminated books by hand, with demonstrations of the tools, the pigments and the gold leaf, and it makes a good place to stop with children.

The monastic buildings are worth exploring in their own right. The cloister, with its calm galleries, the chapter house, where the monks met each day to hear a chapter of their rule, and the abbey church are all part of the visit. The church, built around the tomb of Saint Germain, has a Romanesque bell tower that stands above the roofs of the old town.

The highlight is the crypt, which lies beneath the church and is accessed on a guided tour from the museum. It contains the burial place of Saint Germain and some of the oldest wall paintings in France, dating from the ninth century, in the time of Charlemagne's grandson Charles the Bald. The paintings, in faded earth tones, tell the life of Saint Stephen and are among the few Carolingian murals to have survived in place. The crypt is cool and low, with a quiet atmosphere, and the paintings are best seen on a tour with a guide who can explain the scenes. Because the crypt tours run at set times and have limited numbers, it is worth checking the schedule and booking early.

The museum is generally open daily with a break at lunch, and a visit usually takes around two hours, including the crypt. In the town, the Collégiale Saint-Étienne, the Gothic cathedral, and the Théâtre d'Auxerre are a short walk away. The museum suits history lovers, families and anyone who is curious about the early Middle Ages.