The cloister is a place to wander around, with its system of galleries serving all the buildings. A closed space (claustrum in Latin), inhabited by silence, it encouraged prayer and meditation.
Organised like a huge reliquary around the tomb of Saint Germain, the abbey church is also a church of pilgrimage and its architecture responds to this double programme.
To approach and see the tomb of Saint Germain were the objectives of the pilgrimage. The various reconstructions of the church have always respected the location of the venerated tomb, the “holy of holies”.
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After the church, the chapter house is the most important space in the monastery. It is here that the life of the community is organised, during the chapter, the daily meeting of the monks of the community, presided over by the abbot.
Located in the old monastic dormitory, where the location of the monks’ cells can still be seen on the floor, this room presents the Gallo-Roman period through numerous archaeological objects.
The collections presented in this room evoke the work of copying and illumination carried out by the monks in the Middle Ages, but also the history of the Abbey and its establishment in the town of Auxerre.
This room houses numerous objects from the medieval period (jewellery, tools, weapons, statues, etc.) from ancient fi nds or recent archaeological excavations in Auxerre and its region.
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Dedicated to the bishop Saint-Germain (378-448), the sacristy houses two exceptional 11th century fabrics, the “Shroud” and the “Tunic” known as the Germain Tunic.
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