Sens Tourist Attractions
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Sens (pop. 27,952), in northwestern Burgundy, was the chief town of a Gallic tribe, the Senones, and later the capital of a Gallo-Roman province. In 1627 it became the archbishopric see over Paris, Chartres, Meaux, Orleans, Nevers, Auxerre and Troyes. The doctrines of Abelard were condemned at a church council held here in 1140, and Louis IX (St Louis) was married in the cathedral in 1234. Thomas Becket lived here during his exile from England.The 15th century Palais Synodal, restored by Viollet-le-Duc in the 19th century, now houses a Musée Lapidaire. The Municipal Museum has a fine collection of Gallo-Roman antiquities. The church of St- Pierre-le-Rond (13th-15th century) has good stained glass. The church of St-Savinien dates in part from the 11th century.
Cathedral of St Etienne
The construction of the Cathedral of St-Etienne in Sens, one of the largest and finest Gothic buildings in France, was begun in 1140 and completed about 1500. Most of the rich sculptural decoration of the west front was destroyed during the French Revolution: all that survives is the figure of St Stephen on the central doorway, the representation of his legend in the tympanum (from about 1200), the legend of John the Baptist on the left-hand doorway (also around 1200), the Doorway of the Virgin on the right (early 14th century) and a Flamboyant doorway in the north transept. The beauty of the spacious three-aisled interior with its bold vaulting is enhanced by the fine stained glass (12th-17th century). The cathedral treasury is one of the richest in France (ecclesiastical vestments, tapestries, etc.
