Local pickPhoto by Zairon on Wikimedia Commons
Basilique Saint-Seurin
The basilica sits on Bordeaux's oldest Christian burial ground, with a crypt holding more than 70 stone sarcophagi from the 4th century onward.
You're standing in front of the basilica that sits on the oldest Christian burial ground in Bordeaux. The church was begun in the 11th century, but people were buried here long before that, from the 4th century onward. The crypt beneath the nave holds more than 70 stone sarcophagi, some carved with the chrism or the fish, and a few of those burials have been carbon dated to the 4th century. The building is free to enter, but the crypt runs on guided visits and does not open on demand, so check the schedule at the welcome point or book ahead if you want to see it.
One local legend says Charlemagne left Roland's horn on the altar here on his way back from Spain, and that the hearts of his twelve peers were buried in the necropolis. The site is one of the Bordeaux stops on the Camino de Santiago routes, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998. The west porch dates from the 11th century, while the façade you see was rebuilt in the 19th.
