Auxerre: Christ on a White Horse, the Crypt of Saint Germain and the Clock Tower
Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, France
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Auxerre Crypt Keeper
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225
XP
+100 France
= 325 total
1 day
Auxerre: Christ on a White Horse, the Crypt of Saint Germain and the Clock Tower
225 + 100 XP
Auxerre rises on a low hill above the Yonne. Its Gothic cathedral of Saint-Étienne, begun in 1215, stands on the 11th-century crypt of the Romanesque church, where a 12th-century fresco shows Christ riding a white horse inside a great cross, with four angels on horseback around him. Three hundred metres north, the body of Saint Germain was laid in 859 in the crypt of the abbey that bears his name, a centre of learning in the Carolingian age, and in the old town the Tour de l'Horloge of 1485 keeps a two-faced 15th-century clock.
Required Activities
1
of 4
Go down into the 11th-century crypt by the south side of the ambulatory and walk to the axial chapel at the far end, where Christ rides a white horse at the centre of a great painted cross with four mounted angels in medallions around him — then turn and find the later Christ in majesty on the half-dome above you
2
of 4
Go down into the Carolingian crypt of Saint-Germain, built by bishop Héribald, who was buried in it in 857 two years before the body of Saint Germain was brought down here in 859, and stand under the vault of the school that at its height held six hundred monks and something like five thousand students
3
of 4
Walk under the Tour de l'Horloge, founded in 1485, and compare its two pink-and-gold 15th-century clock faces — only one is original, the other a copy — then find the stone in its wall carrying a Hebrew inscription, reused from the medieval Jewish quarter that stood around it
4
of 4
Find François Brochet's statue of Cadet Roussel on its fountain in the place Charles-Surugue — a real Auxerre bailiff, Guillaume Joseph Roussel, who was gently mocked in the song rather than celebrated by it — then look under the porch of the Tour de l'Horloge for the plaque marking the crooked little house he lived in
Go down into the 11th-century crypt by the south side of the ambulatory and walk to the axial chapel at the far end, where Christ rides a white horse at the centre of a great painted cross with four mounted angels in medallions around him — then turn and find the later Christ in majesty on the half-dome above you
Go down into the Carolingian crypt of Saint-Germain, built by bishop Héribald, who was buried in it in 857 two years before the body of Saint Germain was brought down here in 859, and stand under the vault of the school that at its height held six hundred monks and something like five thousand students
Walk under the Tour de l'Horloge, founded in 1485, and compare its two pink-and-gold 15th-century clock faces — only one is original, the other a copy — then find the stone in its wall carrying a Hebrew inscription, reused from the medieval Jewish quarter that stood around it
Find François Brochet's statue of Cadet Roussel on its fountain in the place Charles-Surugue — a real Auxerre bailiff, Guillaume Joseph Roussel, who was gently mocked in the song rather than celebrated by it — then look under the porch of the Tour de l'Horloge for the plaque marking the crooked little house he lived in
Before you go
Both crypts are ticketed, staffed visits with their own closing times rather than parts of the church you can walk into — the cathedral crypt is entered from the south side of the ambulatory, to the right of the choir — so do them before the late afternoon.
Both crypts are harder to get into than the challenge suggests. The abbey of Saint-Germain closes for the whole of January and on Tuesdays from November to March, and its Carolingian crypt can only be seen on a guided tour, so you join a departure rather than wander down. The cathedral's crypt and treasury, where Christ rides the white horse, open only Thursday to Saturday afternoons, 2.30pm to 5pm, and not on Sundays or public holidays. That makes a Thursday, Friday or Saturday afternoon the only reliable time to do both — and never in January. The clock tower and the Cadet Rousselle statue are in the street.
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
225 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
325 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
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