By Linda Tancs
Located around 80 miles from Paris, France, Sens was once a major center of medieval religious life. Sens Cathedral, pioneering Gothic architecture and dating to the 12th century, became a place of refuge for the exiled and martyred archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket. Relics associated with Becket can be seen at the recently reopened Sens Museum, housed in the former archbishop’s palace. Although the French Revolution proved catastrophic for many churches, whose interiors were stripped or repurposed, the cathedral escaped the worst of this destruction. As a result, it boasts four 12th-century stained-glass windows, an 18th-century choir screen and the marble mausoleum of Louis, the dauphin of France, son of King Louis XV. Beyond the city’s Gothic splendor, it’s also known for its vast amount of half-timbered buildings and local viticulture.
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