The Cloître des Cordeliers sits at the heart of a former Franciscan friary in Saint-Émilion, where monks arrived in the 14th century and stayed until the French Revolution swept them away. Named after the rope belt, or corde, that Franciscans wore as a mark of humility, the Cordeliers were far from reclusive: they welcomed pilgrims on the Way of Saint James, cultivated medicinal plants, and made wine.
The ruined church behind the cloister still shows its great stone arch, Gothic windows, and a medieval path descending into the limestone caves below. Those caves stretch for over three kilometres and now house crémant de Bordeaux, the region's sparkling wine.
VoiceMap's self-guided audio tours trace the friary's layered history, from its mendicant origins and pilgrimage connections to the underground cellars where medieval monastic tradition quietly continues in fizzing form.