Saint Martin d'Ainay Basilica - Abbey

The archives mention a church dedicated to St Martin and to Mary, at, what was at the time, the confluence of the Rhone and the Saone in the 9th century. Modernisation or reconstruction works took place at the end of the 11th century by the Abbot Gaucerand, which transformed the church into a roman style building. This abbey was quickly developed and was prosperous thanks to the lands gained. From the 13th century, the cult of martyrs in Lyon was developing. Damaged by the religious wars of the 16th century, the abbey lost many of its posessions in the coming centuries, before becoming known as the only St Martin church in the 18th century. Used as a food cellar during the Revolution, but was destroyed in the 19th century, leaving it in a very bad state - thus it was decided to renovate the church in its original style.