Abbey of Saint-Sauveur de Charroux

The presence of these precious relics made the abbey an important centre of devotion that attracted many pilgrims and helped its economy flourish. According to tradition, one of the most revered relics was known as the Saint-Vœu, said to have been given by an angel to Charlemagne—although other accounts claim he had offered it to the pope, and that it was preserved in Rome. A fragment of the True Cross was also venerated. Charlemagne confirmed Count Roger’s donations and declared the abbey exempt from episcopal authority. Pope Leo III confirmed this in 801, placing the abbey under his direct jurisdiction.

The Hundred Years’ War gravely affected the monastery’s prosperity, and it was burned down in 1422. The last regular abbot was Geoffroy de Cluys, the first commendatory abbot was appointed in 1521. In the 16th century, the abbey entered a period of decline that worsened during the Wars of Religion: in 1568, the town of Charroux and the abbey itself were attacked and plundered, left in ruins. The community never fully recovered and lingered in a precarious state until 1762, when it was united with the chapter of the collegiate church of Brioude (Auvergne).

One of the few remaining buildings is the 15th-century chapter house, which preserves sculpted elements from the Gothic portal, now largely dismantled, although some structures remain in situ, integrated into later constructions. In 1856, when a congregation of Ursuline nuns occupied part of the site, a hiding place was discovered in a cloister wall containing ancient reliquaries once venerated in the rotunda of the monastic church, likely hidden during the Wars of Religion.