Romantic Troyes

Its multicoloured farandole of half-timbered houses, straight out of the 16^th century, make Troyes a jewel in the crown of France’s national heritage. This city, where people still take the time to dream of love and fresh water, is Troyes.

Troyes reveals itself through the poetic and sensitive places that make up its charm, but also through the characters, facts and events that have contributed to its fame.

Discover Troyes, the romantic city, with this quiz about love.

St Jean Au Marché’s church, located in the historic heart of the town, was the parish church of the merchants at the time of the Champagne Fairs.

Built from the 13^th century onwards, it has been altered over the centuries, particularly in the 16^th century when the choir was rebuilt.

It houses a number of works of art, including stained-glass windows and superb sculptures by the 16^th -century Champagne School, as well as a monumental altarpiece featuring two 17^th-century paintings by painter Pierre Mignard.

From the Renaissance onwards, the facades of our half-timbered houses were very often adorned with sober decorations. Carved decorations, such as braces on the eaves beams and various themes on the ends of the beams (grotesques, heads of figures, floral and plant decorations, etc.).

Protector saints, such as St Nicolas, St Philippe and St Roch, could also be depicted on the facades to provide protection against fire and epidemics.

On the corner of this house, known as the corner post, there is a representation of two figures.

This lovely bronze sculpture, known as “L’Idylle” (“The Idyll”) or “La pêche” (“The fishing”), is a cast of the original work by Joseph-Marius Ramus, dating from 1872 and housed in the Saint Loup Museum. The bronze was made by Jean Maurice Célérier, a bronze-maker from the Aube department.

It depicts two young lovers, a shepherd who is fishing accompanied by a young girl trying to catch a line.

Cross the square and approach the magnificent sculpted group “The Abduction” set in the middle of the fountain.

What sensuality, what beauty, what admirable plasticity is this naiad abducted by a brutal newt!

This beautiful creature struggles with all her might against the marine god, crushing his face, arching her back and playing with her hips to loosen the embrace.

This bold group can be read as an allegory of passion, a hymn to the power of love, or even a challenge to convention.

This sculpture, originally in bronze, was created by Auguste Suchetet at the very beginning of the 20^th century. It was commissioned by the sculptor to adorn this square in 1907 and was installed in 1912.

The Germans removed it in 1942 to recover the bronze. A copy, owned by the French state, was found in Paris and replaced the original in 1950.

Today’s square “Place du Préau” once housed two buildings of great prestige that no longer exist: the Palais Comtal and the Collegiale St Etienne.

The Palais Comtal was built on the initiative of Count Henri 1^st Le Libéral in the middle of the 12^th century.

It was the residence of Count Henri and his wife Marie de Champagne. They were both patrons of the arts and literature.

Marie, like her mother Eleanor of Aquitaine, loved works that sang of love and chivalry. In particular, she supported a famous French novelist who imposed a new art of writing: the poetry of courtly love.

Here you can see rose bushes.

The rose is prized for its beauty, celebrated since Antiquity by many poets and writers, for its colours, which range from pure white to deep purple, through clear yellow and all the shades in between, and for its fragrance, it has become the “queen of flowers“, present in almost every garden and almost every bouquet. It is undoubtedly the most widely cultivated flower in the world.

Roses were already grown in convents in the 6^th century, and it was Thibaud IV, Count of Champagne and King of Navarre, who brought back Rosa Gallica officinalis in his luggage from a crusade in 1240. He had it cultivated in Provins, hence the name Provins rose, also known as Damask rose.

It is generally known as the Queen of Flowers.

The quays of the Seine were redeveloped in 2014 and the people of Troyes are happy to make them their own again.

Nicknamed “Lili la dame au chapeau” (“Lili, the lady with the hat”), this sculpture was created by Hungarian artist Andras Lapiz, whose favourite theme seems to be ladies in hats. Our pretty Lili from Troyes is made of bronze and measures 1.25 m. She is installed on a bench and invites visitors to sit beside her. She has become a must-see for photographers.

She is reading a book.

The emblem of the city, the Heart of the City sits enthroned on the quays of the old canal near the Theatre of Champagne.

This stainless steel lacework was designed by a couple of artists from the Aube department (Michèle and Thierry Kayo-Houël) and manufactured in a factory in Troyes (Sotralinox).

Positioned at the epicentre of the town, between the body and the head of the Cork, this monument also symbolises the romanticism of the historic town.

This heart, though artificial, is highly emotional, blushing red as you approach it at night thanks to an ingenious play of light.

It’s a work of great finesse, with dimensions worthy of entry in the record books: 4 m wide, 3.5 m high and 2 m deep.

Just a stone’s throw from the heart of the city, a cute footbridge spans the canal and has the romantic air of a “Pont des Arts” (the famous bridges for lovers in Paris), with its tangle of padlocks hung by couples in love. We don’t know exactly when or where this tradition first appeared. For some, it has existed since the First World War, and first appeared in Serbia. Others believe it originated in Hungary, on a grid linking a mosque to a cathedral. Some believe that the practice became popular in Rome in 2004, with the book Three Metres Above the Sky (Federico Moccia, 1992), which became popular and was adapted into a film the same year. So the origins of the practice seem to be uncertain.

This footbridge in Troyes is named after Héloïse, a famous 12^th-century woman and Abbess of the Paraclet Abbey, near Nogent-Sur-Seine in the Aube department. She lived a carnal passion with her teacher.

This attractive contemporary sculpture, which adds a cheerful touch to the public space, is the work of Dutch artist Sjer Jacobs, who was born in Tegelen in the Netherlands in 1963.

A painter and creator of ceramic and bronze sculptures, all his work deals with the human being, man or woman, observed in everyday life. He made this bronze model in his workshop in the Netherlands before sending it to Troyes. It is an enlarged-scale reproduction of an existing model called “Sofia” in the town of Middelburg in the Netherlands. It is 1.60 metres tall.

At number 49 in the street “rue Clemenceau”, on the corner of the street “rue de la Vierge”, is the house known as the “Humanist” house. On the bracket supporting the corner post, two recently restored 16^th-century sculptures depict two faces. One evokes the features of Dante, who was banished from Florence and sought refuge in the city of Urban IV, and the other that of Petrarch. Dante’s life was completely changed by his meeting with a woman who became one of the main characters in his work, the Divine Comedy.

Cette ruelle est emblématique de la ville, elle est très étroite et a gardé son caractère médiéval. Même si cet endroit est devenu très prisé des touristes, il a été autrefois un lieu de mauvaises rencontres. Un arrêté de police avait été pris en 1789, imposant la fermeture de nuit à chaque extrémité de la ruelle par une grille et mettait en garde contre ce lieu qui donnait lieu à des rendez-vous et des désordres de libertinage. C’est désormais un endroit hors du temps, qui est devenu, depuis sa requalification, avec ses maisons à colombages colorées, ses pavés, un bel endroit romantique, propices aux promenades en amoureux et aux baisers volés. Les maisons, telles des maisons amoureuses, se sont rapprochées, et ne peuvent plus se passer les unes des autres. Et même les chats sautaient d’un grenier à l’autre. D’où son appellation depuis le XIXème siècle par les troyens eux-mêmes : Ruelle des chats.

This narrow alleyway is emblematic of the city and has retained its medieval character. Although it has become very popular with tourists, it was once a place of bad encounters. A police order was issued in 1789, requiring each end of the alleyway to be closed at night by a gate and warning that it was a place for meetings and debauchery. Now, with its colourful half-timbered houses and cobblestones, it has become a romantic spot, ideal for lovers’ strolls and stolen kisses. The houses, like houses in love, have moved closer together, and can no longer live without each other. Even cats used to jump from one attic to another. Hence its name, since the 19^th century, by the people of Troyes themselves: alley of the cats (“Ruelle des chats”).

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