Collégiale Notre-Dame-en-Vaux & its Cloister Museum
While visitors flock to the cathedral, the Romanesque-Gothic Collégiale Notre-Dame-en-Vaux — a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the Chemins de Saint-Jacques — hides a secret next door: a reconstructed 12th-century cloister filled with medieval column statues of extraordinary quality.
The Cloister That Was Lost and Found
The original cloister was demolished during the French Revolution and its carved column statues were buried or scattered. In the 1960s, archaeologist Francis Salet led excavations that recovered dozens of capitals and statues, which are now displayed in the Musée du Cloître de Notre-Dame-en-Vaux directly beside the church.
The museum is small — you can see it comfortably in 45 minutes — but the quality of the Romanesque sculpture is world-class. The elongated biblical figures carved around 1180 are eerily expressive and remarkably well preserved, their limestone faces still sharp and detailed.
The Church Itself
Notre-Dame-en-Vaux is also worth entering for its own stained glass and for the 56-bell carillon that peals across the old town on the hour — the sound carries all the way to the canal. The church's twin towers are the most photogenic façade in Châlons and look spectacular at golden hour when the stone turns warm ochre.
The square in front, Place Mgr Tissier, is lined with half-timbered houses and makes an excellent spot to sit with a coffee after visiting the museum.
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