Paray-le-Monial

Paray-le-Monial is located in the southwest of the Saône-et-Loire Département, in the heart of the Charolais countryside, in a plain bounded by the Brionnais upland, the rivers Loire, l'Arroux and the Bourbince.

The roughly parallel Bourbince River and the canal du Centre traverse the city from the southeast to the northwest.

Among the elements that form the city, as it has developed over its history, are the upland near the Bourbince River, the priory and basilica, a rectangular town center with very dense housing, national highway N79, which crosses the Bourbince River east and west of the town center, a newer part of town located north of the town center, the Bellevue residential area to the southwest, and several suburbs.^[4]

Paray (Paredum; Parodium) existed before the monks who gave it its surname of Le Monial: when Count Lambert of Chalon, together with his wife Adelaide and his friend Mayeul de Cluny, founded a Benedictine priory there in 973,^[5] the borough had already been constituted, with its ædiles and communal privileges. At that time an ancient temple was dedicated to the Mother of God (Charter of Paray). The Cluny monks were lords of the town from 999 until 1789.

Because of its historical association with Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque and Saint Claude de la Colombière, it has been called the "city of the Heart of Jesus".^[6]

The town is mainly known for its Romanesque church of the Sacré-Coeur ("Sacred Heart") and as a place of pilgrimage. It was built starting in the 12th century as a small-scale version of the Abbey of Cluny. It was finished in the 14th century, while the cloister dates to the 18th century.

The Hôtel de Ville, in Renaissance style, is also one of the historical monuments. Another major building in Paray-le-Monial is Saint Nicolas' tower, built during the 16th century, which hosts different exhibitions but mainly mosaic exhibitions.

The area's primary industry is agriculture, in particular beef cattle farming. The area is known for its charolais cattle.

• Saint Claude de la Colombière (1641–1682), Jesuit priest and the confessor of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque.^[8]
• Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647–1690), Visitation nun and mystic who promoted devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.^[9][10] Jesus' apparitions are recognized by the Roman Catholic Church.^[11]
• Jules Quicherat (1814–1882), historian and archaeologist.^[12]
• Léon-Benoît-Charles Thomas (1826–1894), cardinal
• Émile Buisson (1902–1956), gangster
• Jacqueline Maillan (1923–1992), actress
• Gérard Ducarouge (1941–2015), Formula One car designer
• Richard Trivino (born 1977), goalkeeper
• Vincent Clerc (born 1981), rugby union player
• Alexandre Lapandry (born 1989), rugby union player

Paray-le-Monial is twinned with:

• Bethlehem, Palestine^[13]
• Bad Dürkheim, Germany
• Payerne, Switzerland
• Wells, United Kingdom

• Communes of the Saône-et-Loire department