Cluny Abbey is a former Benedictine monastery, sometimes referred to as Cluni or Clugny, and located in Cluny, Saône-et-Loire, France. As this historic place is dedicated to Saint Peter, it has been the location of a powerful monastic network that held sway over 1,500 monasteries and 10,000 monks.
The Cluny Abbey in Burgundy was the center of a major monastic movement in the Middle Ages, where the church was built in Romanesque style and was the largest until Saint Peter’s Basilica was rebuilt. Founded by William I, Duke of Aquitaine in 910, Berno of Cluny was nominated as the first Abbot of Cluny.
Its establishment was also the beginning of the Benedictine Order, which represents the keystone to the stability of European society. Nowadays, only about a tenth of the great monastery of Cluny remains because in 1790, during the French Revolution, the Abbey was sacked and mostly destroyed, with only a small part of the Abbey surviving.
Even though it was part of the Benedictine houses, it was different in its organizational structure, prohibition on holding land by feudal service, and having the liturgy as its main form of work. Still, with the beginning of the 12th century, Cluny had serious financial problems mainly because of the cost needed to build the third abbey, known as Cluny III.
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Since then, the Abbey of Cluny never regained the power or position it once had; today, there are only small remains of the church, which was once considered to be the biggest one in the world. There is one transept of the 12th-century abbey church that still remains, along with 15th-century abbots’ residences and 18th-century convent buildings.
In conclusion, even though Cluny Abbey is not very famous worldwide like other French counterparts, there are still people visiting this historic structure, to see what has been left from the old architecture, and whoever goes to the cluny will witness the magnificent structure it once was.
