We have seen on p. 129 that a monastery was erected on the spot where the body of the Martyr Saint Ayoul was found. [Illustration: APSE OF SAINT-AYOUL] About 1122, the great theologian Abailard, cruelly mutilated by the vengeance of Canon Fulbert, uncle of Heloïse, and persecuted on account of the boldness of his views, took refuge in the monastery adjoining the church of Saint-Ayoul. He continued to teach there, and gathered round him as many as 2,000 students. [Illustration: THE CRUCIFIXION AT SAINT-AYOUL] Saint-Ayoul was burned, then rebuilt in the twelfth century, and restored in the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. The façade is reproduced in the photograph on p. 130. In spite of mutilations suffered during the Revolution, and the inclemencies of the weather, the great doorway is still worthy of interest. A Renaissance gallery, terminated by a lantern, flanks on the left the great bare gable pierced by three windows which surmount the gate. The whole has thus a very original appearance. In order to see the choir (thirteenth and fourteenth centuries), the chapel (fourteenth century) which adjoins it, and the transept (twelfth century), _go round the church to the left of the façade_. This part of the building, which appears in the view at the foot of the preceding page, is now used by the military authorities as a fodder store. The Roman tower, which rises at the intersection of the transept, no longer possesses its belfry, which was destroyed by fire, The bells now used are those of the Tower of Notre-Dame-du-Val (visible on the right of the photograph on p. 130). In the interior, in the part reserved for worship, the central nave and the side aisles of the thirteenth century may be visited. The north aisle was doubled in the sixteenth century by a second nave. The most interesting objects are the seventeenth century pulpit, and a fine reredos, also of the seventeenth century, in carved wood, above the high altar. It contains a picture, _Jesus in the Temple_, painted in 1654 by the artist Stella, of Lyons, who, falling ill whilst passing through Provins, had been cared for in one of the convents in the town. [Illustration: ANGEL MUSICIAN] [Illustration: ANGEL MUSICIAN] [Illustration: RENAISSANCE VIRGIN] In the lady chapel, on the right of the high altar, is some beautiful wood-panelling, dating also from the seventeenth century. It is by the same hand as the carved reredos, and is the work of Pierre Blasser of Amiens. Standing against the panelling is a delicate Virgin in ivory, of the sixteenth century, reproduced on p. 131. [Illustration: SAINTE-CROIX] To the left of the high altar is a group representing the Virgin and Christ crucified, between Mary Magdalene and St. John. These statues belong to the sixteenth century; as do also the smaller ones in white marble, representing angel-musicians, which ornament the altar placed in the angle of the church, to be found on the left on entering (_see photo, p. 131_).