What to See Inside the Monastère Royal de Brou
The three tombs, the carved choir stalls and the tiled roof — a concierge guide to the highlights of a self-paced visit.
The monastery is explored at your own pace with no fixed itinerary, so knowing the highlights ahead of time helps you plan an unhurried two-hour visit. The site splits naturally into the church with its tombs and choir stalls, the apartments and museum, and the cloisters. This guide walks through what to look for in each area.
What should I look for in the church?
The church itself is the monastery's centrepiece — a Flamboyant Gothic interior with soaring vaulting and an intricate rood screen separating the nave from the choir, where the three tombs sit. Take time with the stonework of the screen alone; it's carved as finely as the tombs it leads to.
Natural light through the church's tall windows changes the character of the carved white stone through the day, so a slow walk at different points of your visit reveals detail easy to miss on a single pass.
What makes the three tombs worth seeing?
Conrad Meit's three tombs — for Philibert II, Margaret of Austria, and Margaret of Bourbon — are among the finest Renaissance funerary sculpture in France. Look closely at the contrast between Margaret of Austria's two effigies: an older figure in state dress above, a younger, idealised figure in alabaster below.
The ten carved sibyls beneath Philibert II's tomb and the greyhound at Margaret of Bourbon's feet are small details worth seeking out, each adding a layer of symbolism to the monument.
What's distinctive about the choir stalls?
The 74 oak choir stalls, completed in 1532, are carved with an almost overwhelming density of figures, foliage and grotesques across two tiers on each side of the choir. No two stalls are quite alike, and the carving rewards close, unhurried looking.
Pair a look at the stalls with the tombs they surround — together they form the artistic core of the whole monastery.
What's beyond the church?
Margaret of Austria's own apartments, the fine-arts museum in the former monastic buildings, and three cloisters round out the visit. The museum's religious sculpture and paintings give useful context for the tombs and stalls you've just seen, while the cloisters offer a calmer, quieter contrast to the church's density of detail.
The church's roof, laid in patterned glazed polychrome tiles in the Burgundian style, is also worth a look from outside before or after your visit — one of the monastery's most photographed features.
Frequently asked
What is the main highlight at the Monastère royal de Brou?
The three tombs carved by Conrad Meit and the 74 densely carved oak choir stalls surrounding them in the church choir — together the artistic centrepiece of the monastery.
What is special about the church's roof?
It's laid in patterned, glazed polychrome tiles in the Burgundian style, giving the exterior a distinctive coloured pattern that's one of the monastery's most recognisable features.
Is the museum worth visiting alongside the church?
Yes — it holds religious sculpture from the 13th to 17th centuries and paintings from the 16th to 20th, housed in the former monastic buildings, and is included in the same ticket as the church and cloisters.