I will just quickly jump into this debate.

When I was in Veselay in January 2020, I remember asking a helpful, English-speaking woman at the Veselay tourist info office about this second location at Corbigny. But I do not even remember what she told me, probably because it was nothing significant. Since she was so helpful, I just called her a few days ago, asked her the same question again and even had her download the WHS map and look at it.

Although she did not even know that the area was referred to as "Corbigny," she mentioned that there was an old "cross" (47°27'24.9"N 3°44'14.6"E), which I believe Solivagant briefly mentions above. It is this cross that created the second location, I would love to say, but I do not think that is the case. The woman said that the cross has probably something more to do with the Route of Santiago WHS.

I think the best view of Veseslay from the second location can be had at the grilled gate (47°27'25.2"N 3°44'10.5"E) on Google Street View. You still need to zoom in.

From the WHS map the first location of this WHS looks somewhat triangular, and I would say asking why this second location is included is like asking why the south-east corner of this first (triangular) location is included. They all probably just offer nice views of the Veselay village, as it is also one of the "Les Plus Beaux Villages de France," which pikkle and I talked about on top of this page. So at this point, I would say, forget about "why" and just enjoy this beautiful village from any angle.

After writing the above, I just tried a different approach and might have come up with something interesting. I just downloaded the huge PDF map of the Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France WHS and looked at the Veselay section of it. 8 pages are devoted to Veselay. On page 204 there are two maps and the one on left is intriguing!

What is that pink circle (with 500 m radius) placed right over the second location of the Veselay WHS??? At the top left corner of this map it seems to say the pink represents "protection perimeter of a historical monument."

Below is the Google translation of what it says under this map:

"The Sainte-Madeleine basilica is owned by the municipality of Vézelay.

It is protected by an inscription on the list of historical monuments of 1840, confirmed by the Official Journal of April 18, 1914 (cf. Minutes of the permanent delegation of the Higher Commission of historical monuments of March 25, 1968).

It therefore benefits from a perimeter of protection of its surroundings with a radius of 500 m and is located within the perimeters of protection of seven other buildings and land protected as historical monuments in the municipality of Vézelay.

On the other hand, the city has a protected sector since December 23, 1993 (with an area of 33.44 ha) whose protection and enhancement plan (PSMV) has been approved since 2008.

In addition, the Sainte-Madeleine basilica, the municipality of Vézelay and the neighboring municipalities are part of a vast site classified since December 9, 1998 with an area of 10,355 ha."

It is not easy for me to understand it with this Google translation, but it seems to say "these areas have been protected since 1840"??? Is it possible that some significant historical monument was there at the second location back in early 19th century?

Can it be that "cross"? :))) I mean the cross is located right at the center of this pink circle!

Perhaps the site where the First Crusade was started by Bernard?

Interesting suggestion! (Second Crusade though)
However, It appears that we do know (or at least have a "traditional location" for) where this preaching took place and it is NOT the 2nd inscribed location! -
"il prêcha la croisade à une foule immense, à Vézelay en Bourgogne au lieu-dit « la croix Saint-Bernard », à quelques centaines de mètres de la basilique, en contrebas, à mi-flanc de coteau sur le penchant face à Asquins et non au sommet de la colline en raison de l'exiguïté de l'abbatiale qui s'avéra bien trop petite pour contenir la foule, évaluée selon la tradition orale à 100 000 personnes.
Pour commémorer l'événement, l'abbé du monastère, Ponce de Montbroissier, fait élever une chapelle commémorative « la chapelle Sainte-Croix », consacrée en 1152, et une croix en pierre qui fut détruite à la Révolution. "

The Chapelle Sainte-Croix exists to this day to the North of Vezelay towards Asquins and is included inside the main inscribed area. (@Els - I note we already have a "Connection" for Crusades and Vezelay - but with no explanation. Might be better to add something?)

Well, this is sad and uncomprehensible...

À Carnac, 39 menhirs détruits pour construire un magasin de bricolage : que s'est-il passé ?

Having sad that, I do think the menhirs of Carnac warrant a place on the List. I've never understood why such a prime site hasn't been proposed yet.

So far we have no French nominations listed after 2025. Here are some of the likely nominations from France in the next few years.

Charolais-Brionnais Cultural Landscape - aiming for 2026 or 2027

https://www.lejsl.com/culture-loisirs/2023/11/06/candidature-unesco-une-brochure-pour-expliquer-et-mobiliser

Cluniac Sites of Europe - aiming for 2027 or 2028 *still awaiting for inclusion on Tentative List

"we are now heading towards 2025 and the inclusion of the Cluniac list on the National Indicative Lists of the States concerned!"

https://www.francebleu.fr/infos/culture-loisirs/cinq-prieures-clunisiens-rejoignent-le-dossier-de-candidature-au-classement-mondial-de-l-unesco-5663161

Pic du Midi de Bigorre Observatory - aim by 2029 or 2030 *hints of earlier submission

https://www.ladepeche.fr/2024/03/02/pic-du-midi-un-pas-supplementaire-vers-la-reconnaissance-au-patrimoine-mondial-de-lunesco-11798712.php

I was in France in late August and found this Paris Olympics commemorative 2-Euro coin. This is supposed to be one of the several but is the most commonly circulated one.

Can anyone figure out what church is on the right side of this coin? My research hasn't yielded any concluive answer.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/197517626@N02/54018550152/in/album-72177720320583348

Notre-Dame de la Garde Basilica Marseilles . see this

"La tour Eiffel, la basilique Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde de Marseille et la fleur de Tiaré (Tahiti) représentent la variété des lieux des épreuves sportives."

Thanks for the info. I asked several French people at the airport, but none of them could figure it out. Neither could Google Lens. But I didn't expect it to be a church outside Paris.

Indeed, I saw Notre-Dame de la Garde Basilica Marseilles only from far away in 2023:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/197517626@N02/52954627263/in/album-72177720308861724

But in the distant past of 2000 I went up the hill where the church is situated.

The Official Journal of the European Union says, "The Eiffel Tower is in motion, she carries the values of sport." I thought she carried the value of Absinthe.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absinthe

"Absinthe was created in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland in the late 18th century by the French physician Pierre Ordinaire.[7][8] It rose to great popularity as an alcoholic drink in late 19th- and early 20th-century France, particularly among Parisian artists and writers."

Not sure whether this should be in 'WHS in the News', but some new footage from inside the original Chauvet-Pont d'Arc here: https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/france-in-focus/20241216-the-chauvet-cave-unlocking-france-s-prehistoric-past

Also features the pathway up to the famous (well, among this community) metal door. Sadly the plaque outside meets none of the requirements for our Plaque Inventory - that's on the wall just inside the entrance to the Chauvet 2 complex if I remember correctly

One of the knocks that has been given against Provins is that there is little trace of medieval fairs in the city. Next weekend Provins will be hosting its annual medieval festival, which, if nothing else, may give an idea of how active the town may have been during its historical fairs. I'm going to be heading to the town next weekend if anyone finds themselves near Paris and is thinking of attending as well.

I would like to add yet another anecdotal experience about Vézelay after Marc Rouserez's review of today, where it is stated that the core zone "exclave" is the point where Bernard de Clairvaux preached the second crusade. This cannot be the case because, as explained by Solivagant previously, this spot is on the northern side of the hill, where there is a cross at la Corbelle, in front of the Franciscan church. So why is that area there?

When I was there this summer, I asked in the tourism office, but I got (like Tsunami) no answer and was referred to a knowledgeable wise man, the owner of the book store "L'Or des étoiles" , who was the town's mayor at some point or at least dealt with local cultural issues. He told me that I was "the first to ask in 50 years" (apparently not true :-) ) and that this was "just a mistake". And that's it. But he admitted not really knowing the reason.

Again, Corbigny is far away from Vézelay but who knows, given some rivalry between the two holy places this piece of land might have been managed by the abbey of Corbigny. Anyway, when you go there you just have a patch of wood, with no trails, in front of you. And that's it: the chemin de justice is not part of this area, it really is centered around the wood, with no hiking trails going through it; further, the farmstead itself called Corbigny is also outside of this area. I would say that this puts also the "famous éperon" outside of this area.

So a new line of investigation is: was there a wood in this area in 1979? Because personally I would like to believe that it was meant as a viewpoint and an inspiration for artists, but the only mention of "éperon vézelien" on the net is found in the document shared in previous posts, so how famous can it be? Artistic inspiration is not even mentioned as a justification for criterion VI. I also cannot help but fantasise some connection with the "actual" Corbigny.

Like Italy, I was surprised to see that France's Tentative List is getting quite outdated. France has been one of the other countries which has been able to produce an annual nomination with near certainty. Yet, France's relatively large Tentative List has very few active nominations, with the majority lingering for decades.

Current Tentative List: 33

Nominations that are a quarter of a century old (or more)? 22 TWHS

Of the remaining eleven . . . six are scheduled in the coming years.

- The Royal Fortresses of Languedoc (2026)
- Normandy Landing Beaches (2026)
- The Pic du Midi and its Observatory (2027)
- The State of the Pyrenees (2027)
- Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests [Extension] (2027)
- Saint-Honorat (2028)

That leaves five remaining nominations, most dating from 2014 to 2020 updates. However, one has already been rejected the Mediterranean Alps (2019). Besides the upcoming Cluniac nomination that should be added to France's Tentative List this year, I wonder if we'll get any indication of an update or any tidying regarding old nominations?

In any case, the French approach to its tentative list is to add to it from time to time, but not to undertake a complete overhaul. We saw this with the recent inscriptions of Cordouan and Carnac; it manages to get sites inscribed that have long been on its tentative list.

Not sure which old nominations might be dusted off, but I think the Parish Enclosures of Finistère (31 components) will emerge in due time. With the Cluniac Sites in Europe developing (including some 85 French components by my count), its possible that France will have over 100 of its historic churches inscribed in only a few years. Not claiming their unworthy, but that is a lot of components! As seen in the article below, the tentative nomination should be added in 2026 and the aim is for 2030 (likely a bit of overlap with Finistère).

https://france3-regions.franceinfo.fr/bourgogne-franche-comte/saone-et-loire/unesco-ce-celebre-site-de-bourgogne-en-route-pour-l-inscription-au-patrimoine-mondial-de-l-humanite-3228533.html

Concerning St Denis' cathedral, the project has been totally given up. But who knows, maybe it will come back later, but it will depend on a political determination but it's not on the agenda