T was in Vézelay for the first time in 1960, when at the age of eighteen she went to Burgundy with two cousins of hers, Gerd and Peter L, both of them architecture students. They travelled in a Citroën 2CV putting up their tents at night on the banks of many of the brooks Burgundy abounds in. On this trip in Burgundy they visited no fewer than fifty cathedrals, churches and chapels.

In the small town of Tonnerre Peter L and T discovered an architectural treasure, the natural spring of Fosse Dionne. In 1758 a roof was built over the spring and four fireplaces were added, so that the local women could do their washing and drying there. The circular shape of the spring forms the basis of the construction. Peter L and T were amazed and delighted by their discovery. Peter immediately took out his little sketchbook and started drawing. T was very much impressed by the beautiful form of this washing place and the turquoise water of the spring.

In 1973 T visited Tonnerre again, but now she was armed with a camera. The photograph she took of the Tonnerre wash house makes up the front cover of her book Fantasy and Architecture. Back in Delft some time later she met the architect Herman Herzberger, who said to her: “I’ve seen Tonnerre!” The photograph on the cover of the book had intrigued him so much, that he had gone to Tonnerre to see the washing place with his own eyes.

There are other interesting wash houses to be found in Burgundy, some of which are rectangular unlike Tonnerre. They have small wooden stools for the women to kneel on when they are doing their laundry. Most of these washing places were built in the days of Napoleon.

Burgundy was part of the Roman Empire in the first three centuries of our era, but this fertile area was inhabited much earlier. Saint Père is a village not far from Vézelay with mineral springs, where also salt is found. It appears that first nomad hunters and later shepherds were present here even long before the Romans. They benefited from the healing qualities of the springs for which they made offerings to the gods in thanks. In Roman times a temple was built.

It is most likely that Christianity was spread in Burgundy after the fifth century. In the ninth century a monastery was built on the bank of the river Cure, but for safety reasons the religious community had to move higher uphill. Vézelay became a kind of fortress town.

In the following centuries Vézelay became one of the places frequented by pilgrims who were on their way to Santiago de Compostela. Crusaders to Jerusalem and pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela travelled from church to church, from monastery to monastery, from town to town. An old map of France dating from 1648 shows the traditional pilgrim routes, which left from Paris and Vézelay. As a result of the pilgrimages these also became trade routes. Goods from all over Europe were traded on the markets that sprang up along those routes.

The church in Vézelay is a harmonious building because of the way local stone was used to build it. Two kinds of stone in contrasting colours taken from different local quarries were alternated in the round arches supporting the vaults. Looking at the capitals at the tops of the columns one cannot but appreciate their makers’ imaginative minds. St. Madeleine Basilica in Vézelay is in good condition at the moment, which is mainly due to Viollet le Duc, a young architect from Paris, who in 1834 at the age of twenty-six was commissioned to restore the church. It was then in very bad shape with cracks in the walls and vaults as a result of gross neglect in the years before the French Revolution. During the Revolution also many sculptures were destroyed. For sixteen years Viollet le Duc worked hard on the restoration of this historic building, dedicating his great talent to the task.

In June 2002, T travelled to Burgundy once more accompanied by her son Cristóbal and her daughter Paulita this time. Vézelay was still the beautiful town T remembered, but now it looked more prosperous than ever. They were there on a fine sunny Sunday, and enjoyed a cold drink on a terrace shaded by the hanging clusters of bluish-lilac flowers of two very old twisted wisterias. Behind the church they saw a market where people from the neighbouring villages buy and sell regional products such as cheeses, jams, wine, and bread.

Nowadays Vézelay is part of a large nature park registered as a World Heritage site. The French seem to have developed a special eye for the beauty of nature, which they know should be preserved and left alone. Burgundy with its countryside of great natural beauty, where one finds that age-old architecture is in perfect harmony with the surrounding hills, is a fascinating place to be. Life is good in Burgundy, especially in summer.

Any visitor to Burgundy will no doubt feel moved by its gorgeous scenery. Another attractive aspect of Burgundy is the great variation of activities to be seen in the village squares. Traditional markets are held there, but also demonstrations of old crafts or exhibitions of the latest farming machines. No longer does the pilgrim bring in extra money, it is the tourist who brings it in nowadays. The distance from Paris is enough to guarantee Burgundy the atmosphere of rural peacefulness.