Ophorus Excursions and Tours in France

EXCLUSIVE SAINT EMILION UNDERGROUND MONUMENTS VISIT

Saint Emilion is without a doubt one of the most fascinating villages located next to Bordeaux. Not only is the area one of the most famous wine producing regions in the world, the village itself is a small gem.

Our Saint Emilion visit & wine half day tour will include the visit of this unique architectural wonder. Ophorus is proud to offer an exclusive visit of the underground monuments of Saint Emilion with one of our accredited tour guides. 

During a private guided tour you will discover the Romanesque church with catacombs that are as large as a cathedral: 125 ft long, 66 ft wide and 36 ft high. All you can see from the exterior are a few windows on the one facade and the steeple, topped with a Gothic arrow 174 ft high, that seems to have been set on the very ground at the top of the limestone cliff. Benedictine monks were the inspiration for this church carved out of solid rock which is Europe’s largest monolithic cathedral! This very strange sanctuary was built fairly quickly in the 11th century, taking only 40 years. After following a long gallery, one comes across an altar oriented towards the west, rather than the east as is the Christian tradition. The sobriety of the ornamentations stands in stark contrast with the wealth of lessons to be learned from them. Unfortunately, in the 18th century, revolutionaries scraped the church walls to collect the saltpeter they used as a base ingredient in gunpowder. A legend has it that women come to St. Emilion to sit on the hermit’s meditation armchair carved out of the limestone rock: Legend has it that sterile women who go there and make the wish to have a child find themselves pregnant within the following months.

SAINT EMILION HALF DAY WINE & VISIT