Sens
Sens has been pulling people off the main road for a long time. The Senones tribe gave the town its name, Brennus led them all the way to Rome, and by the time the medieval archbishops were styling themselves Primates of Gaul and Germany, Sens already knew it was somewhere. The thing that stops you today is the cathedral — begun between 1135 and 1140, it is the first Gothic cathedral ever built, predating Notre-Dame de Paris, and you can walk in for free any morning before six.
The treasury holds vestments that belonged to Thomas Becket, who lived here in exile from 1164. Louis IX married Marguerite of Provence under this roof in 1234. The stained glass runs from the 12th century to the 17th. Most people drive past on the way to Burgundy proper; that is their loss and, quietly, yours.
💛 What travellers fall for
People who come back tend to time it for a Friday or Saturday morning: the covered market hall, a handsome 19th-century iron structure, fills up early and pairs well with a slow look at the Gallo-Roman sculpture in the synodal hall next door — both done before the tour coaches reach Vézelay.
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How Sens came to be
The city began as Agedincum, the Roman capital of the Senones' territory, laid out on a grid and covering 110 hectares by the 2nd century AD. It took the tribe's name when the empire receded, and its bishop was elevated to archbishop as early as the mid-5th century — a rank that eventually carried the title Primate of Gaul and Germany.
The medieval centuries were eventful. Thomas Becket sheltered here in 1164, the same year the cathedral sanctuary was consecrated; Pope Alexander III was also in residence. In 1234 the cathedral hosted Louis IX's wedding. Then came the darker chapter: in 1562, during the Wars of Religion, 100 of Sens's Huguenot population were killed in what became known as the Massacre of Sens.
Who and what shaped it
People who shaped it
Landmark buildings
Plan your visit
On the map
When to go
July is the warmest month at around 26°C (79°F), which is also when the music festival and cathedral tower visits run — fine for walking the compact centre, though the cathedral itself stays cool. Winters are mild rather than harsh, with an average annual temperature of 11.5°C, and rainfall spread fairly evenly across the year at around 800 mm annually.
Right now
Background & history adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA) · specs from Wikidata (CC0) · weather from Open-Meteo · map data © OpenStreetMap contributors · photos from Wikimedia Commons / Unsplash with per-image credit. No third-party reviews or social posts reproduced.