Chaumont - Basilique Saint-Jean-Baptiste

Chaumont (pop. ~ 22.000) is located in the centre of Haute Marne.

Peasants and artisans settled around an early existing fortified motte and so started the development of Chaumont, owned since the 12th century by the Counts of Champagne.

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"Saint-Jean-Baptiste" was built at the beginning of the 13th century to meet the needs of a growing population. It was made a collegiate church in 1474 by Pope Sixtus IV and raised to "basilica minor" in 1948 by Pope Pius XII.

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The Entombment of Christ ("mise au tombeau") is known in art since the 11th century, though the icon was rarely seen in medieval times. At the beginning of the Renaissance, the "Mise au Tombeau" got very popular in France.

Here is a 15th-century mise au tombeau, which was donated by the Amboise family who were bailiffs of Chaumont.