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Berzé-la-Ville

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  Berzé-la-Ville      La Chapelle des Moines, at Berzé-la-Ville (Saône-et-Loire), between Cluny and Mâcon, has a British connection which is rather recent.      The chapel was built by Hugues de Semur, the great Abbot of Cluny, as part of a monastic grange, in the 11th century. Raymond Oursel, in his Bourgogne Romane , speculates that it must have been one of Abbot Hugh's favourite places, as it is one of only three to be mentioned in his final testament, written at the end of his unusually long life (he was 84 when he died in 1109). It is famous for its frescoed apse, which was the product of the very best Cluniac artists:      Probably painted under Hugh's successor as Abbot, Ponce de Melgueil (1109-22), it shows Christ handing a no longer legible text to St Peter (who was the patron saint of the Abbey of Cluny), surrounded by the other apostles, and two smaller groups of saints with local connections below.      The cha...