Église Sainte-Radegonde & Monet Family Graves
Tucked at the top of the village behind a mossy stone wall, the tiny 12th-century church of Sainte-Radegonde is where Claude Monet is buried alongside his family — and almost no one lingers here long enough to notice the stained glass he donated, or the view from the churchyard over the rooftops to the Seine valley.
The Church and Its History
The Romanesque church dates to the 12th century and served the farming community of Giverny long before Monet arrived in 1883. He attended services here, was married here for the second time (to Alice Hoschedé in 1892), and is buried in a simple family plot in the churchyard beside the south wall.
The grave is marked by a modest flat stone — deliberately understated for one of the most famous artists in history — and is usually decorated with small bouquets left by visitors, a quietly moving sight.
The Monet Stained Glass Windows
Less known than his paintings, the two stained glass windows Monet donated to the church in the 1880s are still in situ: simple, luminous panels that flood the nave with the same quality of coloured light he was chasing on canvas.
The church is rarely locked during daylight hours; step inside and let your eyes adjust to the cool, dim interior before the windows reveal themselves.
The Churchyard View
The churchyard sits on a slight rise at the village's upper edge, and the gap between the church and the boundary wall frames a view across apple orchards and tile-roofed farmhouses to the Seine valley below — the same view, essentially unchanged, that Monet would have seen walking up from his house.
Come in the late afternoon when the light is low and the valley haze is golden; you will have the place almost entirely to yourself.
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