Art Pursuits

specialists in cultural tours, study days, short courses and private views of historic houses

Art Pursuits Study Tour Programme

Treasures of Burgundy

4 - 10 June 2008

Day 1	Morning flight with BA to Lyon. Travel by private coach to Beaune via Tournus to see the impressive eleventh-century abbey church of St Philibert with experimental vaulting. Transfer to your 4* hotel and dinner in a nearby restaurant.
Day 2	All-day coach excursion to Autun, Roman Augustodonum, with impressive remains of a Roman theatre and city gates and the fine hilltop cathedral of St Lazare with its dramatic portal and capitals carved in the 1130s by Gislebertus. After lunch visit the Musée Rolin, to see Gislebertus' seductive relief of Eve. Return to Beaune via the celebrated vineyards of the Côte d'Or. Dinner in a restaurant near the hotel.
Day 3	Coach excursion to Fontenay, the beautifully restored Cistercian house founded by St Bernard of Clairvaux in a secluded valley. After a picnic lunch (included) continue to Vézelay, where mediaeval pilgrims flocked to see the shrine of St Mary Magdalene and St Bernard preached the Second Crusade. Return to Beaune and independent dinner.
Day 4	Morning walk through Beaune, sampling the delights of this beautiful town: the collegiate church of Notre-Dame with fifteenth-century tapestries and the Hôtel Dieu, the hospital founded by Chancellor Nicolas Rolin, that houses Rogier van der Weyden's Last Judgement polyptych. Free afternoon to explore Beaune on your own. Independent dinner.
Day 5	Coach excursion to Dijon, capital of the Burgundian Valois Dukes. Visit the remains of the Chartreuse de Champmol, the Carthusian monastery just outside the city with Claus Sluter's Puits de Moïse and chapel portal. The Musée des Beaux-Arts has further masterpieces by Sluter. Afternoon walk through the town centre to the churches of St Bénigne and Notre-Dame, illustrating the creativity of the Burgundian Romanesque and Gothic architectural style. Return to Beaune for independent dinner.
Day 6	Coach excursion to study the ruins of Cluny, once the most prestigious of Benedictine abbeys. After lunch continue to Berzé-la-Ville where the Cluniac abbots withdrew from the hustle and bustle of monastic life, to admire magnificent Romanesque wall-paintings. At Paray-le-Monial we will see what the church at Cluny looked like before its destruction. Return to Beaune and dinner in a restaurant near the hotel.
Day 7	After some free time in Beaune, depart by coach for the monastery of St Nicholas at Brou near Bourg-en-Bresse. The church houses the marble tombs of Margaret of Bourbon, Philip the Fair and Margaret of Austria, remarkable for their perfection of sculpture and richness of ornament. Continue to Lyon for an early evening flight with BA to London.

Please note that at this stage the programme is still provisional. Although we aim at the greatest degree of accuracy from the outset, some details, especially the order of visits, may be subject to change.