Deanery St-Hippolyte

Participate in the development of a Cluniac deanery! Restoration of the stone step over the width of the right span of the choir: laying and masonry of the stones on two regular steps.

You will enjoy the rich heritage of the region and the street arts festival of Chalon.

The originality of this partly ruined deanery lies in the fortification in the 13th century which gives the impression of a castle and a keep with a bell tower and a Romanesque church. If the nave no longer has a roof, there are still beautiful testimonies of Cluniac Romanesque art at its peak in the choir, the apses and the bell tower, the top floor of which has twin bays crowned with capitals. By its situation in the landscape of the Grosne valley, opposite the castle of the Sires de Brancion in frequent disputes with the Abbey of Cluny, the deanery of Saint-Hippolyte still testifies to the turbulent history and the conflicting relationships between the power temporal and spiritual authority in Burgundy of the 12th and 13th centuries.

After the 2019 campaign, which mainly concerned the restoration of the floors of the transept and the step on the nave as well as the step of the western portal, the association plans to realize this year the step leading to the choir. The work entrusted to the volunteers will consist of laying and adjusting the stone elements across the width of the right span of the choir in two regular steps directly above the choir arch, making the joints, then backfilling the floor of the choir at the level determined by the base of the altar in place in the apse. A masonry intervention is also planned on the northeast tower to stabilize and consolidate the leveling, currently in poor condition, with a tinted lime mortar which will be the subject of preliminary tests. In addition, the site will be an opportunity to continue the development of the building by cleaning the nave and its surroundings, installing directional signs and clearing access to the view of the chevet.

The work on the site will take place every morning (except Saturday and Sunday) from 8H to 13H. The afternoons will be reserved for relaxation, visits and meetings.

Many leisure possibilities according to the group's desires: meeting with the inhabitants and associations of the village, outings at the water's edge, meetings with other volunteer sites, discovery evening and observation of the sky from a belvedere, visits to the architectural heritage , discovery of Romanesque art in Cluny and in Cluny, Tournus…