A Walk Around Troyes.

Welcome to Troyes and I hope you enjoy the tour which follows. If you don’t have a lot of time when you get to the Prefecture don’t go towards the Cathedral but turn back into town and recomence the visit at St Urbain.

by John Catt

1. ST JEAN

Stand facing the nave of St Jean.There has probably been a church on this site since the C7th.It is situated between the sites of two Roman roads.These have remained in use until the present day and are now the Rue Champaux and the Rue Emile Zola.The two roads on either side of the church probably date to the early Middle Ages.

Go down the Rue Molé on your left and you will see that the choir is higher than the nave.Work began on rebuilding the former in 1520 and stopped in 1566 because of financial problems.You can see pillars with the start of unfinished vaults on either side of the church.The C13th nave was badly damaged in the fire of 1524.Three new bays at the entrance to the church had to be rebuilt.

If you had come to Troyes at anytime between the second half of the C16th and the start of the 1950’s you wouldn’t have been able to have seen this side of the nave because there were a series of small houses built against the church.This was a common way of gaining funds.There cellars are said to have undermined the stability of St Jean.

Walk round to the main entrance and you will see the portal which dates to 1593.It was hidden by a porch until 1911.In this year the bell tower just to its right collapsed after a house in front of it was demolished.Whilst the Belfry which stood near the station had the town’s bells St Jean had the town’s clock.The C14th tower which housed it was damaged in the fire of 1524.A new clock tower was added to the choir and completed in 1604.You can see it if you look up on your right.

There are two events of historic importance which took place in and around the church which I will now outline.

THE FAIRS OF CHAMPAGNE

There were local fairs in Troyes from at least the C5th.They had gained regional importance by the start of the C11th.In the 1130’s merchants came from Artois and Flanders to sell their woolen cloth.They traded here with merchants from the centre and south of France.There were also Italians who came to sell silks and spices.The fairs ran throughout the year in the towns of Langy sur Marne,Bar Sur Aube,Provins and Troyes.The Hot Fair was held here in June and the Cold Fair in October around St Remi..They originally lasted 15 days but this was extended to two months.The Counts of Champagne and later the Kings of France offered a safe conduct to all the merchants coming to the fairs.This was perhaps more important than the location of the towns.

By the end of the C13th France was at war with Flanders and the Flemish merchants stopped coming.The Italians had begun to make their own cloth and had started to go by sea to Flanders to buy their wool.The fairs continued to exists as financial markets until the 1320’s and then slipped back into just serving the region.

THE TREATY OF TROYES

The Hundred Years War had lasted for more than half a century when Charles VI came to the throne in 1380.His mental problems lead to a power struggle between the Dukes of Orleans and Burgundy.Phillip the Good, Duke of Burgundy,had decided to negotiate with the English because of their victory at Agincourt (1415) and the murder of his father by their opponents (1419).The Treaty of Troyes (1420) disinherited the Dauphin by making Henry V Charles’ son through marriage to his daughter Catherine.Henry was to become Regent and then king after Charles death.

The treaty was signed in the unfinished Cathedral and then the marriage took place on the following day here at St Jean.Henry died before Charles and the advantage turned towards the Dauphin and his military champion Joan of Arc.

2. MAISON DU BOULANGER

The importance of Troyes architectural heritage was already recognised in the C19th.A law of 1962 created conservation areas in towns throughout France including Troyes.Restoration work had already started around St Jean in the 1950’s.We have two examples here,the Maison du Boulanger and the Maison de l’Orfevre.

The former has many features typical of the half timbered houses built in Troyes after the fire of 1524.These include the raised stone foundation and the first floor and roof which jetty out.The problem of space at the Maison de L’Orfevre was resolved by building a circular stair tower at the exterior of the building.

You can see the remains of a well which now serves as a giant flower pot.There were 70 in Troyes at the end of the C16th.They weren’t considered very hygenic and there use died out completely in the C19th.

3. HOTEL JUVENAL DES URSINS

Jean Juvenal,a lawyer,and his son were witnesses to the events surrounding the Treaty of Troyes. Jean had bought the Hotel des Ursins in Paris.Guillaume who became Chancellor of France changed his surname to ‘des Ursins’.His son following the mode for all things Italian changed his name from Jean to Juvenal.

A house belonging to the family had stood on the site.We don’t know who the present house was built for but he wasn’t very lucky because it was built in 1520 and had to be reconstructed six years later because of the fire of 1524.One distinctive feature is the oratory which juts out from the house above the main entrance.It was a place for prayer.

4. COUR DU MORTIER D’OR

You have entered the courtyard here by the Rue des Chats.The alley had this name at the end of the C15th.It rests as proof that not many lessons were learned from the fire of 1524.

Interior courtyards and cellars are two typical features of the historic centre of Troyes.The earliest cellars were created during Gallo-Roman times.The oldest which now survive date to the C13th. The modern steps here lead down to a C15th cellar. These can go down three levels and were used for storage,lodging,shops and weaving workshops. There are also one or two examples of cellars used as places of refuge.

5. STE MADELEINE

On the way to the church you will pass the gateway leading to the site of the former cemetry.All the churchs in the town had one.In the eighteenth century it was decided to create a single site outside the walls.The gate dates to 1525 and you can see an ‘F’ for Francois 1 and his symbol the salamander The land here started to be developed in the second half of the 1100’s.Parts of this church date either to the end of the C12th or the beginning of the C13th which makes it the oldest church in Troyes.During its reconstruction at the beginning of the C16th Jehan Gailde built the rood screen.It is now one of only seven which survive in France..Restoration work was undertaken on the church in both the C18th and C19th.

6. HOTEL DE MARISY

Francois de Marisy bought a half timbered house here in 1486.It was destroyed in the fire of 1524 and his son Claude,Mayor of Troyes,built the present house between 1528 and 1531.In the C19th due both to the state of the building and the council’s wish to widen certain streets important changes were made which have been much crticised.The main entrance and the two wrought iron grilles on the windows were moved here from the Rue Quinze Vingts.A new building was added on the corner of the Rue des Chats.The oratory is probably the most important survival.

7. SYNAGOGUE

Troyes original Jewish community which had lived near the Cathedral were expelled in the C13 and C14th.A new community was formed with the arrival of Jews from Alsace-Lorraine in 1871.After the horrors of the Second World War the survivors were joined by Jews from North Africa.The original synagogue had been demolished after the war and a series of temporary locations were used until the new synagogue was opened here in 1960.

During the C11th the Rabbi Solomon Dar Isaac lived in Troyes.We are not really sure how he got the name Rashi.He has remained popular with Jews throughout the world because of his Biblical and Talmudic commentaries.The Institute Rachi was opened just across the road from the synagogue to continue the tradition of religous scholarship.

8. HOTEL DE VAULUISANT

We know very little about the important buildings in Augustobona.It has been argued that the Rue Dominique which runs to the right behind the museum and the Rue des Pigeons mark the traces of an amphitheatre although no remains have yet been found.

Another possibility is that these streets follow the site of an enclosure or moat which surrounded the property of Cistercian abbots from Vauluisant near Sens in the Yonne who

settled here during the C12th.(A C13th building which belonged to them in Provins still survives)In the second half of the C15th the property here was in ruins and it was decided to sell it.

Search now for the traces of the important families in Troyes during the C16th and you will find their representations kneeling in the corners of the stained glass windows which they gave generously to the local churches.You can see as well their coats of arms.They have also left us with a fine collection of houses in the town centre.

These were built after the fire up until the 1560’s.Stone houses were rare in Troyes before this disaster but afterwards the wealthier inhabitants often chose to use limestone,chalk or brick.Although Antoine Hennequin acquired the site here just after the fire he waited another 30 or 40 years before constructing the house facing you.The two towers were probably all that was left of an older property.The wing to the left dates to the C17th when the house belonged to the Mesgrinys.

The building now serves as a museum with collections relating to the town's history,its rich artistic heritage and the local textile industry.

9. ST PANTALEON

There has been a church here since the end of the C12th.It was partly destroyed during the fire of 1524.Restoration work began in 1527 .The western portal,the church’s main entrance,and the wooden vault were added at the beginning of the C18th.It is now a museum church with a collection of more than sixty statues which were saved from churches at the time of the Revolution.

The arts flourished in Troyes during the first half of the C16th.Dominique Florentin who’d worked at Fontainebleu came here in 1541.He was the leading light of a group of sculpters who were inspired by the Italians.There are several examples of his works inside.

10. HOTEL DE MAUROY

You enter this house through the gate in a wing which dates to 1560.The main building in front of you is thought to date from between 1524 and 1560.You can see to your left and your right walls made of a mixture of brick and chalk.This is known in French as ‘damier champenois’(champagne checkerboard).It’s thought that Antoinne Hennequin was responsible for the partial reconstruction in this style.He sold the unfinished building to Jean de Mauroy who completed it.

Following instructions in his will the building became an orphanage in 1580.The children had to start to learn a trade at the age of 12.They made hosiery by hand.Stocking frames were introduced here in 1745 and by 1767 there were 65.In 1770 20,000 pairs of stockings and 3,500 bonnets were madeThis first textile factory disappeared when the orphanage closed in 1794. The building had a variety of uses until it was bought by the local council in 1966.It now serves as a museum.There are at least 10,000 tools dating mainly from the C18th.on display.

11. TEMPLARS

The Knights Templars were founded in 1119 by Hugues de Payns.He most likely came from Payns near Troyes.Their aim was to watch over and protect the pilgrim routes.The rules of this order were fixed by a council held in the old cathedral here in 1128.

Three years earlier Hugues,Count of Champagne,had passed his title to his nephew,Thibaud IV,and joined the Templars.The counts continued their involvment in the Crusades until 1240.One even became king of Jerusalem.The region also provided two important chroniclers of the crusades,Geffroy de Villehardouin and Jean de Joinville.

The Templars established their ‘commanderie’ here between the merchants halls towards the end of the C12th.There were at least 600 in France.They served as residences for the commanders and working H.Q’s.for the territory under their control.

Phillipe le Belle,king of France,who was jealous of their wealth and power completely suppressed the order between 1307 and 1314.Their lands passed into the hands of the Knights Hospitalars.The ‘commanderie’ here was damaged in the fire of 1524 and by the end of the century was in a state of ruin.The present building was erected by a Commander of the Knights of Malta in 1639.(The Hospitilars had taken the name of this island after they’d been given it in 1530).It is now part of a girls school run by nuns.

12. THE GREAT FIRE OF TROYES

In 1524 an apothecary’s shop belonging to Jean Moussey occupied the site facing you between the two streets leading to St Jean..It was here on the 24th of May that a fire started which burned for two days.The destruction was limited to an area bordered by the Rue Louis Ulbach,just below Prisunic,the Rue Emile Zola,and the Rue du Palais de Justice.It was stopped by the walls near what is now the station.At least 1,500 houses were destroyed.

13. PREFECTURE

Stand by the large wrought iron gates at the entrance to the Prefecture.If you look over to your right you will see the Hotel Dieu.The town’s first walls ran along the streets on either side of it and it was here just outside of them that an abbey was built in the C7th.In 1188 a fire started in the abbey and spread as far as the cathedral badly damaging it.The Bishop who began the rebuilding programme couldn’t have imagined that it would take almost five centuries and still not be completed.By the C17th the abbey also needed to be rebuilt but work only started in 1772 and when the Revolution began it was still unfinished.All that now remains behind the gates was saved to house the new administration.After another fire in 1892 it was decided to just guard the walls.

Go across the road and stand in the park by the statue.The abbey church,St Jaques aux Nonnains,stood here.Part of it had collapsed in the C17th and it was demolished after the Revolution.The stones were used to build a grain market.This in turn was replaced by a much larger grain market which occupied all of the square for almost 60 years until its demolition in 1896.

The sculpture in the middle of the basin is called The Rape.The original in metal was made by Auguste Sucheter in 1903.It was the largest of the sculptures removed from Troyes to be melted down by the Germans during the Second World War.The Mayor had tried to save it but he was too late.This copy came from Paris in 1949.

14. THE COUNTS PALACE AND ST ETIENNE

The counts new chateau,their chapel,St Etienne,and the Hotel Dieu were probably all built in the 1150's.They were badly damaged in 1188 by the fire which had started in the nearby women's abbey of Notre Dame aux Nonnains which stood on the site of the Prefecture.

Stand facing down the canal basin.The Palace ran just alongside it to the left.The chapel joined the Palace at its far end and stood on what is now the Place de Préau. The county of Champagne became the property of the king in 1285 and the title of count ceased to exist.The building was used for legal and administrative purposes until the Revolution.It was almost all demolished at this time.The fragments which remained were destroyed when work began on the basin in 1805.

St Etienne was the largest church in Troyes.Henry 1 and Thibaud 111 were buried here.After the sale of St Etienne in 1791 it was decided to remove their remains to the cathedral.Their lavishly decorated tombs were destroyed.The church had then the largest number of reliquaries of all of the towns churchs.Some were sold,others disappeared and the rest were destroyed.Two statues now in St Pantaleon and a stained glass window which was placed in the cathedral are all that now remain.

15. HOTEL DU PETIT LOUVRE

The canons were the bishop's assistants who said their office daily and helped run the cathedral.When the role was first created in the mid C8th they had to obey a monastic rule and live in a community.This changed in the early Middle Ages and the canon's house was a typical feature of cathedral quarters until the Revolution.

The house here which was built for the canons of the cathedral at some time around the beginning of the C16th is an important example.The side facing the Hotel Dieu is older than that in the Rue Montée St Pierre with its Renaissance decoration.

It was occupied at the beginning of the C17th by the Marquis Charles de Choiseul-Preaslain and his son Roger.The statues which decorated their tombs can now be seen in the Musée des Beaux Arts.It ceased to be occupied by the canons in 1793.In 1839 it became a coaching inn called the Hotel du Petit Louvre and remained a hotel for a little over a century.

During reconstruction in the late 1980's the tower which had collapsed in 1860 was rebuilt.It marks the site of the southern gate of the gallo- Roman town.

16. RUE LINARD GONTIER

The head of the cork wasn't touched by the fire of 1524.It's here that we find some of the oldest houses in Troyes.The hotel on the corner,Le Champ des Oiseaux,which was once the property of the chapter of St Urbain probably dates to the end of the C15th.

17. TOUR DU CHAPITRE

A tower stood in the bottom righthand corner of the street here.This was one of the last vestiges of the refortification undertaken after the Vikings had burnt Troyes.It was demolished in 1817

18. THE BISHOPS PALACE(MODERN ART MUSEUM)

We don't know when the original palace was built here.A Romanesque bay dating to the C12th was discovered during restoration work in 1968.It seems probable that the bishops had built a palace using the old wall as a foundation.This had been built hurriedly in the C3rd using any available stone.A funeral stele decorated with a chariot can be seen in the entrance to the lecture theatre.

The building facing the cathedral was erected in the 1520's and the wing on the left at the start of the C17th.These were restored in the 1980's to house the modern art collection of Pierre and Denise Lévy.

19. CATHEDRAL OF ST PETER AND ST PAUL

The first church in Troyes was probably built on this site in the early C4th.Many early churches were built close to the walls so the faithful could escape easily if there was trouble.We also have references to the town's first bishops at this time.

Viking invaders badly damaged the cathedral in 887 and it was rebuilt in the next century.After the fire of 1188 it was temporarily repaired and the decision was made to rebuild it.Work started quickly on the chapels at the far end. By the beginning of the C14th the transept was completed and work had begun on the nave.Economic problems caused by the Hundred Years War meant that all work except the most important stopped.The incomplete nave was given a temporary roof and facade and a new campaign only started in 1451.When work began on the facade here at the start of the C16th the bell tower,last remnant of the C10th cathedral was demolished.Two towers had been planned but only one was completed in 1647.

20. ABBEY OF ST LOUP

This site has been occupied since Gallo-Roman time.The remains of a hypocaust (which provided hot water for a bath house) can be seen in the basement. The Abbot of St Loup decided to rebuild his abbey here in the C9th after it had been destroyed by the Vikings.

The church which had been restored in 1380 stood to your left on the site of the Rue Girardon.This was sold in 1797 and demolished shortly afterwards to make way for the present road.There were plans at the same time to demolish every church in Troyes except the cathedral!A C16th reliquary which had been made for the remains of St Loup was almost completly destroyed in 1794.The enamels which were saved were put on a new reliquary which can be seen in the cathedral treasury.

The only monastic buildings to survive are in front of you and to your left.They were built during the C17th and C18th.On the first floor is one of the most important provincial libraries

in France which has about 90,000 volumes including the collection of Jacques Hennequin.

21. HOTEL-DIEU

These institutions were an important element of cathedral quarters throughout France.We don't know exactly when this one was built because the original charters were destroyed in the fire of 1188.It's presumed though that it was built in the 1150's by Henry the Liberal. It served in its time as both a civil and military hospital,a hostel for poor travellers and an orphanage.Patients were looked after until the mid C19th by the Augustinians

The hospital which had been rebuilt in wood at the end of the 1400's was in a very poor state of repair two centuries later.The mens ward was described as being more like a cave.Rebuilding work started with the Pavillion which now houses the Pharmacy Museum .It took more than half a century to completely rebuild the hospital because of financial crises.

The original chapel had stood on the former ramparts of the Gallo-Roman town.Its site is now marked by a cross just round to your right.The chapel just up on your left was the last building to be erected and is the only example of an C18th church in Troyes.The complicated sun dial was designed by a local mathematician,Jean Baptiste Ludot.

The central block in the Rue de la Cité was started in the 1730's.The 24 hour ward where patients weren't supposed to live for more than a day was demolished to make room for it. Until the 1820's there were often more than four patients to a bed !.The railings and gates in front of you were added in the 1750's.The hospital closed in the 1960's and became a university in 1992.

22. PORTE ARTAUD

Gallo-Roman Troyes had four gates.One of them stood here ,opposite the Rue du Paon,with a tower just under the right wing of the Hotel Dieu and another on the Rue de la Cité.It's from this gate,later known as the Porte Artaud,that Bishop Lupus is said to have negotiated with Attila after his defeat at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plain in 451 A.D.He managed to save Troyes by agreeing to go as a hostage to the Rhine.He was later canonised as St Loup .When Troyes began to expand in the C12th this gate lost its strategic importance and one of the towers and part of the walls were incorporated into the first Hotel Dieu.

There have been very few French Popes and only one who came from Troyes.Jaques Pantaleon was baptised in the abbey’s church in 1185.He rose in the ranks of the church and became known as Jaques de Troyes.Elected as Urban IV in 1261 he decided to build a church on the site of the house where he was born.He died,probably poisoned,in 1264.His remains were brought here at the beginning of this century and later placed in the choir.

This was all that had been completed when his nephew Cardinal Ancher took over the work and had the transept added.The religous landscape was already well established by the C13th and the Abbess Ode de Pougy was not happy that a new church with such a powerful patron should be built so close to her abbey.She organised two attacks on the site and these were followed by a mysterious fire.After another attack in 1268 she was excomunicated until 1283.When the Cardinal died three years later the upper parts of the nave and the entrance remained incomplete.

Saved from destruction during the revolution it was found to be in danger of collapse in 1870.A rescue campaign began and the church which had been started almost 600 years before was finally completed in 1905.In 1983 problems of subsidence due to changes in the water table were noted and further restoration work was carried out on the choir end of the church.

It was modelled on the Sainte Chapelle in Paris and is a fine example of the style known as’gothic rayonant’This building is a ‘box of light’ because it has more windows than walls.St Urbain and the Cathedral are the only two churches in Troyes which have kept stained glass from the C13th.Another rare survival is the Last Judgement which you can see sculpted above the main entrance.This served as a reminder for why people had to go to church.

24. HOTEL DE VILLE

The town council had bought the Hotel de Mesgriny which stood on this site at the end of the C15th.They quickly decided to build a new town hall but apart from some restoration nothing was done until the project for the present building was started in the early 1600’s.The first stone was laid in 1624 but it wasn’t completed until 1670 because of financial problems.

There is a sculptured medallion of Louis XIV on a chimney breast inside the town hall.A statue of him on horseback stood in the niche above the main entrance but this was destroyed at the time of the Revolution.It was replaced by the present statue representing Liberty.She later became identified as Minerva.

Look up to your right and just behind the cafés you’ll see the narrow end of a half timbered house sandwiched between two roads.The original occupants would have looked down onto a much smaller square.The group of modern buildings has partially replaced a row of houses that started by St Jean and continued down to a narrow street on the site of the Rue de la Republique.

A stone cross which stood in the square,was replaced by one made in bronze,the Belle Croix,in 1495.It was taken to be melted down in 1792 but the metal was found to be of poor quality and the fragments were sold.

The town hall was also part of a row.In the 1870’s houses to its right were cleared to make way for a road extension.In 1902 it was decided to create the present square and enlarge the town hall.The two wings were completed in 1937.

You’ve come to the end of the walk.I hope you enjoyed it.I hope to have published shortly 2 more detailed walks on the head and body of the cork.These will be followed by a series of themed walks.

If you want a guide in Troyes, feel free to get in touch with:-

Jon Catt.
Tel/Fax 03 25 73 74 52
E mail jcatt@dnetservice.com