Vézelay
Hill of the Magdalene
Portrait
The basilica of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine crowns a ridge above vineyards, and its nave is built so that at midsummer noon a line of light pools runs exactly down the centre of the floor. Bernard of Clairvaux preached the Second Crusade from this hill in 1146; today it is the start of one of the four French routes to Compostela, and the village below is one street long.
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