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St. Martin's Basilica

Opening period

From 03/07 to 30/08 on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday between 10 am and 1 pm and between 2.30 pm and 6 pm.

Non-guided visit, go directly to the site.

From 1 September, self-guided tours are available subject to staff availability and on request. Appointment at the Tourist Office.

Monday to Friday from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm, except Wednesdays.

Language(s) spoken: French

ChildrenGroups

Means of payment accepted

Bank/credit card

Check

Travellers Cheque

Cash

Rates

Adult: Entry: 4€

Guided tour: 6€.

Free entry for children under 16, people over 65.

Pass’Partout ticket basilica & castle 6€.

Come and discover St. Martin's Basilica with frescoes from the end of the 12th and start of the 13th century and a crypt.

It is built on the foundations of a civil Roman basilica that houses a stone museum. Museum display

11th-century basilica with crypt and frescoes, remains of the choir of an earlier church. Gallo-Roman room, Latin inscriptions.

Museum area

The Romans were jealous of this valley, well situated on the road linking Milan to Vienne (France). They envied the microclimate, and were already talking about the pretty little red cows (the tarine or tarentaise breed), whose milk made such a good cheese: caesum vatusicum, the ancestor of tomme. Clever strategists, they subdued the Gallic-Ceutrons around 21 BC, and made Aime la Plagne, under the name of Axima, the capital of the province of Alpes Graies, which covered part of present-day Savoie and Haute Savoie.

In addition to objects in the Pierre Borrione Museum, the foundations of a Roman edifice remain from this period. Destroyed by a flood on the Ormente, the first Christians built a church on these ruins. Destroyed by fire, the builders of the year 1000 erected on the same site a jewel of Savoy Romanesque art: L'Eglise du Prieuré Saint Martin. Listed as a historic monument since 1875, it has not been a place of worship for several centuries.

SUMMER

July 3 to August 31 (building open, visit site)

10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2.30 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Closed on Sunday and Monday

Single admission charge: 4€. (Free -16 and +65yo)

OFF SUMMER SEASON

Guided tours by prior appointment only.