Charlieu

Every newcomer to Charlieu – whether moving in or simply passing through – inevitably asks the question :

”How is it that this little town has been able to conserve and make the most of its historical past so well, and over so many centuries?”

Far more than a material continuity, surely there must be some kind of spiritual continuity that makes each and every person, from generation to generation, so proud of their town, of its monuments, of the part it plays in local identity. The idea of patrimony here is more of a communal heritage.

Wandering through the streets of Charlieu, and visiting ses monuments et ses musées, you will find yourself gradually enchanted by the very soul of this city and its unforgettable charm.

The old Abbey, the monastery of Cordeliers, the St Philibert church, the old houses and the pedestrian streets, the museums, the gardens are anchoring points and points of recognition, not only in terms of local history, but also in all of our past. In our time of the immaterial and our ephemeral civilisation, they pass on an inestimable message of the value of lasting, of time going by, of the continuity of generations, respect for those who have gone before us, and the testimonials they have left us of their daily life, their beliefs, their hopes, their sense of beauty, in a word their faith in Man.

Each year the Charlieu Tourist Office publishes a brochure aimed at groups, and which includes a presentation of the sites to visit, the terms of the visit, theme tours and the types of menu offered by the Charlieu restaurant owners.

Incidentally, all the Charlieu sites have specifically adapted school group visits available, this brochure is also available on request from the Tourist Office.

For individual visitors to Charlieu's monuments and museums guided visits are made at set hours.

A "Monastic Ideal", tour enables visitors to follow in the footsteps of the monks who founded Charlieu: the Benedictines and Franciscans of Charlieu and the Cistercians of La Bénisson-Dieu.

Moreover, each year during the season, the Tourist Office arranges Guided visits of Charlieu's historical centre, afternoons in which to discover rural architecture as well as botanical walks.

Founded around the year 875 by Benedictine monks from Touraine, the Abbey of Charlieu was linked to Cluny about 930, before being reduced to a simple Priory some time before 1040.

Excavations have revealed the foundations of three churches dating from the 9th, 10th and 11th that had been built on the same site. All that now exists from the last church is the last row of pews, the frontage and the narthex (portal), which was added at the beginning of the 12th century. The main entrance, decorated with scenes from the Book of the Apocalypse is considered a masterpiece of Roman art.

The current cloister, dating from the end of the 15th Century, opens onto the chapter room via a Roman colonnade. From here you can gain access the Prior's personal chapel, also dating from the end of the 15th Century. Two museums (lapidary and religious art) have been constructed in the monastery's parlour and one of the former cellars. By passing through a crenulated ornamental arch you are able to enter into the courtyard of the early 16th Century Prior's Residence.

Around 1280, following a great many quarrels with the Benedictines at Charlieu, the Franciscans founded a monastery on the outskirts of the town in the Parish of St Nizier-sous-Charlieu. Destroyed about 1360, during the Hundred Years War, the Monastery of Cordeliers was rebuilt during the late 14th, early 15th Centuries. Inhabited by the Friars Minors Conventional', it was closed in 1792.

All that remains today is the church, the Brother's library and above all the late 14th Century cloisters. The monastery however came very close to leaving us: sold in 1910 to a Paris antiques dealer, it was destined, prior to be very rapidly declared a Historical Monument, to be dismantled and shipped of to adorn the tennis court of an American millionaire.

The adjoining late 14th century church is remarkable for its exposed oak timber work dating from the end of the 17th Century, and its 14th, 15th and 16th Century murals

• The Silk Museum

For one and a half centuries, Charlieu has been renowned for its exceptional silk cloth, destined for the world of Haute Couture and luxury furnishings.

In 1992, a Silk Museum was set up in the old Charlieu Hospital, a beautiful eighteenth century building.
The visit starts with a group of textile machines in working order, most of which date from the nineteenth century. Luxurious gowns in old silk and samples of designs prepared for Haute Couture are also on display.

One part of the museum is dedicated to the last Weavers Corporation still working in France: that of Charlieu, which organises a unique and spectacular festival every year with auction of false titles. To round off the visit, an audiovisual projection explains the various steps in the creation of a fabric.

Incidentally, the museum shop offers fabrics woven in Charlieu, as well as a wide range of silk items, garments and decorative items made in its workshop.

• The hospital museum

The old Charlieu hospital was originally part of the town’s Benedictine Abbey, where, in the Middle Ages, it welcomed the poor and pilgrims. In the seventeenth century, it found itself in the Charlieu “Main Street” , and from then on it was the nuns of the St. Martha Order who took care of the ailing.

The hospital closed its doors in 1981. The Hospital Museum was set up within the walls of this superb example of eighteenth century architecture. Here you can visit recreations of wards dating from the end of the nineteenth century up to the 1950’s: the great general ward with its lines of beds, the treatment rooms and operating theatres and the laundry.

The Apothecary, classified as a Historic Monument, has retained its beautiful eighteenth century woodwork, its plant drawers and a beautiful collection of eighteenth century blue and white glazed ceramic pots.

The religious aspect of the olden hospitals is portrayed mainly by the chapel, with its magnificent gilded wood reredos (classified as a Historical Monument) which is visible from the museum.