This commune covers an area of 13 km² and is home to just over 675 inhabitants,who are known as ‘Fontenais’. It is located 15km west of Troyes and can be reached via the D15, D33 or the D660. It is about 5 minutes from junction 20 (Torvilliers) of the A5 from Paris.
It has been awarded one flower by the Villes et Villages Fleuris organisation. The primary school and out of school club for the communes of Fontvannes, Bucey and Messon is in the village. This building opened in 2013 and has contemporary architecture that on one side looks out onto the green spaces and the footpaths along the river Vanne. The other side looks out onto the stadium and village hall. Two sports associations offer cycling and running activities in the village and surrounding areas.
The commune is located in a green valley and includes the source of the river Vanne – which gives it its name. The source of the Vanne is covered by a wash house known as the ‘lavoir-halle’. It is made of wooden beams that are reminiscent of both the market halls in the villages and the wooden houses of the city of Troyes. It has recently been restored.
The church of Saint Alban overlooks the spring and its wash house. The square in front of the church has an uninterrupted view of the hills of Pays d’Othe. Originally dating from the 16th century, the church was entirely rebuilt in 1821, but its wooden reredos depicting the last judgement – the only one of its kind in Aube – bears witness to its former life.
Dating from the 16th century, it has been classified as an historic monument since 1895. Other church furnishings are classified as historic monuments, including a 19th-century ceramic bust of Edme François Congniassé Desjardins de Fontvannes and several polychrome limestone statues of saints dating from the 14th and 16th centuries.
At the edge of the village on the D15 towards Macey stands a memorial to Bernard Dulou, a member of the resistance in the second world war. A memorial to those from the commune who died for their country in the first world war is alongside the main road.
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