Who has the key???

I am desperately trying to get hold of some interior photographs of churches that were closed during a previous visit.

Saint-Valérien - Tournus

We have tried all sort of things: just revisit the church at random (not very successful for the remaining churches), sending an e-mail to the marie in question (often also without success), phone the marie beforehand (idem) or, on the day the mairie is open, pop by the mairie. This last option has worked most of the time. Tournus still has two churches I would like to see from the inside, the Saint-Valérien and the Saint-Laurent. An email to the mairie stayed unanswered.

Saint-Laurent - Tournus

Various phone calls resulted in endless waiting times, and when we finally got someone on the line, she told us that the key was not available with the mairie, but with the local museum. In the meantime I had found some interior pictures of the Saint-Laurent on the website of the C.I.E.R., the Centre International d’Etudes Romanes. A website usually means an email address, so it would be worth asking whether they had a key as well. The email however was never answered, not so strange considering how up to date their website is.

Saint-Valérien - Tournus - Photo Commons.Wikimedia.org

At the museum we were more successful. Well, successful? At least someone there was adament that they certainly did not have a key, and that the mairie had been bullshitting us when they told us they did not have the key.
We just came back from a visit to the mairie; we will be phoned to make an appointment. Where had I heard this before? Literally seconds ago the phone rang, and we have an appointment! To be continued….

Saint-Laurent - Tournus - Photo C.I.E.R.

La Tuilerie de Chazelle is very close to Tournus, where the former abbey church is (almost) always open.