Bourg-en-Bresse - Monastery of Brou

(Local Name: Monastère de Brou à Bourg-en Bresse) The monastery of Brou in Bourg-en-Bresse, which stands a little to the east of the church of Notre-Dame (15th- 16th C; beautiful carved choir-stalls), was begun in 1506, and the church was built between 1513 and 1532 by the Brussels architect Louis van Bodeghem for Margaret of Austria.

In the harmonious interior, which is entered through a richly decorated Renaissance doorway, are a magnificent rood screen and beautiful old stained glass. The choir has 74 fine carved oak stalls (1530-1532) and contains three tombs (in the center Duke Philibert II of Savoy, d. 1504; on the left his wife Margaret of Austria, d. 1530; on the right Margaret of Bourbon, d. 1483) and fine stained glass. On the left of the choir is the Chapelle de la Vierge, with a marble altar decorated with scenes from the life of the Virgin.

The cloisters and monastic cells now house a folk museum.