Prieuré Notre-Dame

Closed to the public
Exceptional opening on certain occasions.

Founded in 1020 by the Count of Burgundy and given to Cluny in 1029, Vaux-sur-Poligny is the first and most important Cluniac priory in the Jura. It was home to 15 to 20 monks and its prior was a provincial chamberlain, appointed by the abbot of Cluny for the German province.
Nothing remains of the Romanesque church, which was completely rebuilt in the 13th century. The monastic buildings, ravaged by war, were rebuilt in the 17th and 18th centuries. While the façade is in the Benedictine style, the cloister is in the Maurist style, a compromise between classicism and the foundations of the Gothic style.
The priory was the centre of a large agricultural estate with several mills, including a bark threshing mill and a fine skinning mill for the chamois makers of Poligny. During the French Revolution, the church became a parish church, before being largely rebuilt in the 19th century. The monastic buildings were bought by the Bishopric of Saint-Claude, which founded a minor seminary there, which later became a college, and is now unoccupied.
In the cloister, the refectory door is a fine example of the flamboyant Gothic style. Test pits have uncovered remains of frescoes.