al and mining district, in which gold was first
discovered in 1851. It lies in a healthy and picturesque situation at an
elevation of 1081 ft. An annual agricultural exhibition and large weekly
cattle sales are held in the town.

CLUNY, or CLUGNY, a town of east central France, in the department of
Saone-et-Loire, on the left bank of the Grosne, 14 m. N.W. of Macon by
road. Pop. (1906) 3105. The interest of the town lies in its specimens
of medieval architecture, which include, besides its celebrated abbey,
the Gothic church of Notre-Dame, the church of St Marcel with its
beautiful Romanesque spire, portions of the ancient fortifications, and
a number of picturesque houses belonging to the Romanesque, Gothic and
Renaissance periods. The chief remains of the abbey (see ABBEY) are the
ruins of the basilica of St Peter and the abbot's palace. The church was
a Romanesque building, completed early in the 12th century, and until
the erection of St Peter at Rome was the largest ecclesiastical building
in Europe. It was in great part demolished under the First Empire, but
the south transept, a high octagonal tower, the chapel of Bourbon (15th
century), and the ruins of the apse still remain. In 1750 the abbey
buildings were largely rebuilt and now contain a technical school. Part
of the site of the church is given up to the stabling of a government
stud. The abbot's palace, which belongs to the end of the 15th century,
serves as hotel-de-ville, library and museum. The town has quarries of
limestone and building-stone, and manufactures pottery, leather and
paper.

A mere village at the time when the abbey was founded (910), Cluny
gradually increased in importance with the development of the religious
fraternity, and in 1090 received a communal charter from the abbot St
Hugh. In 1471 the town was taken by the troops of Louis XI. In 1529 the
abbey was given "in commendam" to the family of Guise, four members of
which held the office of abbot during the next hundred years. The town
and abbey suffered during the Wars of Religion of the 16th century, and
the abbey was closed in 1790. The residence erected in Paris at the end
of the 15th century by the abbots Jean de Bourbon and Jacques d'Amboise,
and known as the Hotel de Cluny (see HOUSE, Plate I., fig. 6), is
occupied by the du Sommerard collection; but the College de Cluny
founded in 1269 by the abbot Yves de Vergy, as a theological school for
the order, is no longer in exi