Audio guided tour « the historical heart of Troyes »

Introduction and the History of Troyes

Troyes

We are delighted to welcome you to Troyes, here in the Champagne region.

You’ll be setting off to explore a city packed with unsuspected riches.

Feel free to stroll along the paved alleyways and remember to look upwards as you pass the fronts of the houses – there are marvels just waiting to be discovered!

Enjoy your walk…

The Town Hall

Troyes

Don’t trust the revolutionary motto which appears on the Hôtel de Ville’s / Town Hall? Louis XIII style façade: “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity or… Death”. 

Oh no, don’t worry, the people of Troyes are peaceful and welcoming. On this lively square, you will hear the city’s heart beating…

St Remy’s square

Pl. Saint-Rémy 10000 Troyes

After the spiritual nourishment, let’s enjoy the fruits of the earth!

Les Halles “Baltard” (the covered market) which houses the main market was built in 1874 on the site of a school founded by François Pithou in 1562. It was renovated a century later and is still as cool and fresh as ever…

The champagne cork

Quai des Comtes de Champagne10000 Troyes

In Troyes, we often talk about the Champagne Cork. Not just because we’re at the heart of a region that makes an excellent sparkling wine – one of the best-known and most enjoyed in the world…

The heart of the city

Quai de Dampierre, 10000 Troyes

The romantic city of Troyes tells its story not only through its charming and alluring features, but also through the characters and events that have contributed to its fame…

Dieu-le-Comte general hospital

Hôtel Dieu-le-Comte – quai Comtes de Champagne, 10000 Troyes

Let’s begin with the story of the Hôtel-Dieu le Comte. It’s a former hospital founded in the 12th century by Henri 1st “the Liberal”, Count of Champagne, a powerful, generous man.

The current U-shaped buildings were erected in the 18th century. They were converted into a hospice, and were then closed in 1988. They’ve now been renovated and house a university. The Hôtel-Dieu is enjoying a new life with its young students !…

Agrippa way

Rue de la cité – Troyes

Let’s go back in time … In 451, Attila, the “Scourge of God”, and the Huns decided to stop at the entrance to the town and thus spare it the pillaging and massacres that they normally indulged in.

Why? It’s a mystery! Was rue de la Cité too narrow for the barbarian hordes ?…

The old Jewish district

Rue Chrestien de Troyes

A great historic figure, Rachi (born in 1040 and died in 1105), lived in Troyes. The name of this scholar, who interpreted the Bible and commented on the Talmud, resounds throughout the world, associated with the town of his birth in which he grew up and studied…

Hennequin street and the former Cordeliers’ monastery

Rue Hennequin 1000 Troyes

We’re outside Troyes’ detention centre. In 1792, the former Cordeliers monastery gave way to a prison.

This is a building that we generally try to avoid “visiting”… And yet, a great deal of Troyes’ history has taken place behind these grey, impassable walls…

St Loup Abbey and Chretien de Troyes

1 Rue Chrestien de Troyes, 10000 Troyes

Would you like to see a treasure? … Then let’s go to the Saint-Loup Museum.

Amongst the thousands of items that it contains, you’ll find the “Pouan-les-Vallées treasure”. This consists of the arms and jewels discovered in the tomb of a great 5th century barbarian chief. The quality of the treasure is often compared to that of the tomb of Childéric I. Now that’s saying somethin !…

The Saint-Nizier Church and Its Surroundings

Saint-Nizier, 10000 Troyes

Records of a building dedicated to Saint Maurus on the site of the church you see now date back to the late 5th century….

Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul Cathedral

Pl. Saint-Pierre, 10000 Troyes

With its 114-metre length, Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul is one of France’s largest cathedrals.

It has had a fairly troubled history. First of all, its construction was spread between the late 12th. XIIIème century and the 17th century! And it still remain unfinished, as one of the towers, the Saint-Paul tower, was never built due to lack of money…

The Dauphin House

32 Rue Kléber, 10000 Troyes

The houses in the ‘lower district, also known as the ‘screw head’, are among the oldest in Troyes…

Rue Linard Gonthier

Rue linard gontier – Troyes

Rue Linard-Gontier bears the name of a master glassmaker from Troyes who, in the 16th and 17th centuries, gave the art, omnipresent in Troyes, a new lease of life…

The former Bishop’s Palace and the Museum of Modern Art

14 Pl. Saint-Pierre, 10000 Troyes

To the right of the cathedral, the former bishops’ palace is now home to Troyes’ Museum of Modern Art.

The existence of the palace can be traced back to the 12th century, as illustrated by a Romanesque window discovered during its restoration. Major embellishment works were carried out from the 15th century, and a wing was added in the 17th century…

The Formont House and the local liqueur

1 Pl. Saint-Pierre, 10000 Troyes

Hidden away in the shadows of the Etablissements Formont buildings, just opposite the cathedral, an inimitable, quite unique drink is distilled: “Prunelle de Troyes”.

40 degrees proof and a pretty amber colour, this liqueur has an interesting aromatic complexity: strong almond and paste aromas and delicate vanilla and spice flavours…

The Hôtel du Petit Louvre

1 Rue Linard Gonthier, 10000 Troyes

The Hôtel du Petit Louvre owes its name to the famous Louvre Palace in Paris, the symbol of royal power.

This magnificent complex is very representative of Troyes’ timber-framed architecture. It was built, or rebuilt, in stages, between the 16th and 18th centuries…

The Place du Préau

Pl. du Préau, 10000 Troyes

The verdant Place du Préau is, in a way, the counterpart to Place de la Libération, from which it is separated only by the former Haute-Seine canal…

The holy city of stained glass

Quai de Dampierre10000 Troyes

In Troyes, stained glass is the memory of glass! And the town is nicknamed “The holy city of stained glass” by the specialists. The reason is simple: in the Aube department there are some 9000 m² of stained glass windows, half of the amount in Champagne-Ardenne, a region that itself contains half of the stained glass in France. You can see why all our churches are so lavish…

The Seine river

Quai la Fontaine, 10000 Troyes

Prior to 1900, Troyes used to look like a “Little Venice” in some places… 

The Place de la Libération

Pl. de la Libération10000 Troyes

Located at the foot of the Prefecture and the Departmental Council Offices, the Place de la Libération is full of history. It’s also a pivotal point in Troyes as it lies at the junction of the two parts of the town, forming a link between what we locally call “the body and the head of the Champagne Cork”. We’ll find out why later…

St Urbain basilica

Pl. Vernier, 10000 Troyes

People come from all over the world to admire Saint-Urbain, THE basilica in Troyes…

Troyes’ famous names

16 Rue Aristide Briand, 10000 Troyes

Saint Urban is not the only famous name around here. Over the centuries, many people from Troyes have made names for themselves in France, and some even beyond our borders. The most famous of them are undoubtedly…

Paillot-de-Montabert and Champeaux streets

Les rues Paillot de Montabert et Champeaux

The street full of bistros and little restaurants is one of the liveliest in the old medieval city. People are out walking the streets with friends until late at night. It used to be Troyes’ “naughty” street, but don’t tell anyone…

The “Cat Alley”

Rle des Chats, 10000 Troyes

Here is the highly picturesque Ruelle des Chats, with its lopsided houses, its battered boundary stones and its worn-down, original paving, with all the atmosphere of the Middle Ages!…

Sainte Madeleine Church

3 Rue de la Madeleine, 10000 Troyes, France

Sainte-Madeleine, the oldest church in Troyes, is certainly not just one of the most beautiful. It’s also one of the most amazing…

The Rashi House and Synagogue

Synagoge Rachi, 5 Rue Brunneval, 10000 Troyes

The Troyes Synagogue bears the name of a famous rabbi: Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, better known as Rashi. Born in Troyes in 1040, this exegete revolutionised the approach to reading the sacred texts thanks to an extraordinary intellectual adventure to which he would dedicate his whole life…

Jean-Jaurès square

Place Jean Jaurès, 10000 Troyes, France

One of the most important statesmen ever to have grown up in the Aube region was born in a house in this square, at number 28. A medallion with an effigy of Edouard Herriot is a reminder of this brilliant writer who became embroiled in politics…

The Boisseau Garden and the Saint-Nicolas Church

10 Rue de la Vicomte, 10000 Troyes

The Boisseau garden, nestled between the Bourse du Travail and the Saint-Nicolas church, was a popular entry point to the town from the medieval period up until the early 19th century. The Porte du Beffroi (belfry gate), which used to be situated a few dozen metres away, was an enormous and impressive piece of architecture, with its drawbridge, two towers, portcullis and 16 keys for when important visitors came to Troyes…

The 16th century houses

Pl. Alexandre Israël10000 Troyes

Nestling against one another, the corbelled houses in Troyes with their roofs that look like circumflexes seem to carry the weight of the years on their shoulders – what am I saying? I mean the weight of the centuries !…

Hôtel de Chapelaines

Hôtel de Chapelaines 55 rue Turenne 10000 Troyes

Before belonging, at the time, to the Paillot de Montabert family, whose name lives on as that of a street in Troyes, this graceful stone house had been built by the dyer Nicolas Largentier in 1536…

Hôtel de Vauluisant

4 Rue Vauluisant, 10000 Troyes

Vauluisant is a shortened form of “Vallée Luisante” (Shining Valley) and is a dazzlingly authentic part of the city, a real maze of alleyways and small courtyards. It takes its name from this elegant townhouse, called Le Vauluisant, which itself inherited the name from the Cistercian abbey in the Yonne region, adjacent to the Aube, called Vauluisant Abbey…

Saint-Pantaléon Church

15 Rue Vauluisant, 10000 Troyes

You’ve probably heard about church museums, but have you ever seen one ?

Saint-Pantaléon, the most baroque of Troyes’ churches, is one of them. It is full of saints and martyrs set into the stone…

Sleeping beauty – Emile Zola street

La rue Emile Zola – Troyes

Rue Emile-Zola – still called “Rue Milo” by some of the older locals – is the biggest and busiest shopping street in the city. At the heart of the urban renovation project, it was, as if by magic, transformed from head to toe, to provide shoppers with more room…

The House of Tools and Working Thought

7 Rue de la Trinité, 10000 Troyes

The Compagnons du Devoir (Companions of Duty) could not have chosen a finer place to show off / their know-how than the Hôtel de Mauroy!

You really should visit this amazing museum: the Maison de l’Outil et de la Pensée Ouvrière (literally “the House of Tools and Working Thought”) is a case in which the jewels are – oh yes! – files, hammers, trowels, chisels, planes, etc. all of them with a patina they have got from men’s hands. The museum is like a hymn to the manual crafts. Some people go even further and call this the worker’s Louvre…

The Knights Templar

Rue Général-Saussier – Troyes

You are now in the Rue Général-Saussier. This is a tribute to a great servant of the army, who ended his career as military governor of Paris.

Before it was renamed in 1906, the street took its name from some other soldiers: soldiering monks!…

The Champagne Fairs

Rue de la Montée-des-Changes – Troyes

Troyes lies halfway between Flanders and Italy. Back in the Middle Ages it was a genuine hub of European trade, thanks to the fairs held in Champagne and Brie. The “warm fair” held in June and the “cold fair” in October really started to grow under Thibaut II…

The Bread Market Square

Pl. du Marché au Pain

This must’ve been one of the liveliest squares in the city back in the Middle Ages.

It owes its name to the bakers, who used to come to make their bread and sell it by the loaf, so it became known as the Place du Marché-au-Pain (meaning Bread Market Square)…

Saint Jean au Marché Church

78 Rue Urbain IV, 10000 Troyes

What do people get up to in Troyes? They ring! Or so goes the old saying.

The city has numerous bell towers. But there’s no point twisting your neck trying to admire the steeple of the impressive church of Saint-Jean-au-Marché, just in front of you, which was built way back in the 13th century…