La Chaise-Dieu: A Pope's Tomb, the Danse Macabre and the Whispering Room
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France
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225
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+100 France
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1 day
La Chaise-Dieu: A Pope's Tomb, the Danse Macabre and the Whispering Room
225 + 100 XP
Pierre Roger, a monk of La Chaise-Dieu, became Pope Clement VI at Avignon in 1342 and had the abbey church rebuilt from 1344 to 1352 to hold his tomb. A Danse Macabre painted in the 15th century runs 26 m along three panels in the left aisle of the choir, the abbey's fourteen Renaissance Flemish tapestries hang since 2019 in the restored chapelle Notre-Dame du collège, and in the Salle de l'Écho a whisper into one corner is heard in the corner diagonally opposite. The music festival, born in 1966 from a concert Georges Cziffra gave here for nothing, now fills the abbey every year at the end of August.
Required Activities
1
of 5
Stand at the tomb of Clement VI in the middle of the choir and take in what it cost: he announced the rebuilding on 3 May 1344 and the shell of a church 75 m long and 24 m wide was finished in barely six years — then look round the choir for the damage left by the Huguenots who sacked the abbey in 1562
2
of 5
Walk the 26 m of the Danse Macabre along the left aisle of the choir, panel by panel, and work out the order of the dance: churchmen and lay people taken in turn, with Death stepping in between every one of them — and count how far down the ranks the painter went before the wall runs out
3
of 5
In the chapelle Notre-Dame du collège, where the tapestries have hung at eye level since 2019, read one hanging the way it was meant to be read: the New Testament scene in the middle, and on either side the two Old Testament scenes chosen to foretell it — on the first, Gabriel at the Annunciation with God sentencing Adam, Eve and the serpent beside him
4
of 5
In the Salle de l'Écho, send one of you to a corner and the other to the corner diagonally opposite, both turned to face into the stone, and whisper: it carries along the diagonal of the vault and nobody has ever settled whether the builders meant it to
5
of 5
Find the rood screen across the church — one of very few left in France standing where it was first built — and look along its top edge for where it was cut down by a little over a metre, so that the organ behind it could still be heard in the nave
Stand at the tomb of Clement VI in the middle of the choir and take in what it cost: he announced the rebuilding on 3 May 1344 and the shell of a church 75 m long and 24 m wide was finished in barely six years — then look round the choir for the damage left by the Huguenots who sacked the abbey in 1562
Walk the 26 m of the Danse Macabre along the left aisle of the choir, panel by panel, and work out the order of the dance: churchmen and lay people taken in turn, with Death stepping in between every one of them — and count how far down the ranks the painter went before the wall runs out
In the chapelle Notre-Dame du collège, where the tapestries have hung at eye level since 2019, read one hanging the way it was meant to be read: the New Testament scene in the middle, and on either side the two Old Testament scenes chosen to foretell it — on the first, Gabriel at the Annunciation with God sentencing Adam, Eve and the serpent beside him
In the Salle de l'Écho, send one of you to a corner and the other to the corner diagonally opposite, both turned to face into the stone, and whisper: it carries along the diagonal of the vault and nobody has ever settled whether the builders meant it to
Find the rood screen across the church — one of very few left in France standing where it was first built — and look along its top edge for where it was cut down by a little over a metre, so that the organ behind it could still be heard in the nave
Before you go
The La Chaise-Dieu music festival is held at the end of August each summer.
La Chaise-Dieu sits at 1,082 m on the granite plateau and has a mountain climate: winter visits mean cold, snow and a long church with no heating, so dress for it. The tapestries are now in the chapelle Notre-Dame du collège, a separate climate-controlled room from the abbey church, so check that both are open on the day. During the festival at the end of August the abbey is given over to concerts and rehearsals and ordinary visiting is restricted.
The tapestries and the Salle de l'Écho are inside the ticketed museum route, which runs only from early April to 1 November — in 2026 from 4 April — and in late September and October at weekends only, afternoons, with the last entry at 5pm. There is nothing in winter. The abbey church itself, with Clement VI's tomb and the Danse Macabre, is open every day from 9am to 7.30pm, and out of season a guided visit can be asked for. The church is closed to visitors for the last fortnight of August during the music festival, which is also the fortnight most people would plan around it.
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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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