Changes in Taizé

The church of Reconciliation in Taizé had a monstrosity of an organ mounted on the wall on the left-hand side when looking to the altar end of the church. Tall pilgrims could hardly stand beneath it and I have seen one man hit his head. Frère Roger thought that the organ was too big, pompous and loud for the community. Taizé’s music is simple and requires little or no accompaniment, so the little organ, played by one of monks within the “garden”, that usually sounds like a guitar, suits the whole service.
During the refurbishments of two years ago, this ghastly thing was thankfully removed which did wonders for the simple beauty of this end of the church. The orange curtains draped at the altar end church and the small stain glass windows are the only adornments in the church and they achieve the right effect.

So what has happened in the last two weeks? Suddenly a new organ has appeared, at the same spot as the old one and as big and as ugly, just a little bit more shiny and maybe with a bit more head room underneath. It could even be the old one polished up and returned, I don’t know. It looks like it could blast out music and drown the singing. At the service today it was not in use, so I will have to wait and see whether it is as loud as it looks. What would Frère Roger make of this?

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How we got here

September 2005 the huge removal lorry containing all our worldly goods arrived in front of a barely habitable Tuilerie with lots of potential and very little dry storage space. Unbelievably less than a year later our brand new campsite had completed a very successful season and the two gîtes were ready for tiling, painting and furnishing to accommodate our first guests in April 2007. When you hear all the stories of nightmare rennovations, ours had gone very well indeed, but we had a clear goal in mind and nothing would stop us getting there. We were supplying simple but roomy and comfortable accommodation to people who wanted to visit this beautiful area of the world.

Burgundy, in particular this part, has so much to offer, beautiful rolling hills ideal for walking and cycling and you can choose your route from flat (along the Voie Verte) to seriously steep Mont St-Romain or Mont St-Vincent and everything inbetween. The are numerous Romanesque churches to visit and chateaux in abundance. Many of our visitors come to experience the religious orders near here, Taizé a Christian ecumenical monastery order that attracts thousands of young people througout the summer or La Boulaye a Tibbetan Buddhist monastery, the first in Europe. Other people come here to visit Cluny and Beaune with both Dijon and Lyon (two magnificant cities) being easily accessible too.

Life in Cormatin can be exciting, just watch this space!