(Clicking on the photo will show the next photo)
This is a photo of what used to be the Abbey in Cluny. It must have been
huge (it extends from behind the photo to a spot just beyond the large
buildings you see on the right of the screen). It was the head Abbey of
the Cluny order which was one of the most powerful in Europe. Its main
chapel was the largest in Europe from the time it was built in the
11th/12th centuries until St. Peter's Basilica was built in Rome in the
15th century. However, the power of the church soon led to corruption,
and the decadent life of the monks living here led to its decline, and
the Abbey was already in ruins even before the start of the French
Revolution.
Cluny Abbey