Paray-le-Monial, situated along the Bourbince, has become one of the most important sites of pilgrimage in modern-day France. The Basilique du Sacré-Coeur was dedicated to a movement (devotion to the sacred heart of Jesus) founded by the nun Marguerite-Marie Alacoque (1647-90), who lived and died here. Her remains are kept in a room behind the choir. The church was built in the 12th century and is a small version of the abbey church of Cluny. It is one of the most important Romanesque churches of Burgundy. It features extraordinary harmony and purity. The monument below is dedicated to the local veterans who lost their lives during the "barbaric invasion " of WWI.
"The Former Cluniac Priory Church at Paray-le-Monial: A Study of Its Eleventh-and Twelfth-century Architecture and Sculpture," Ph. D. Dissertation, Yale University: 1994 by J. Minott Kerr
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