NOGENT-SUR-SEINE
Kings, Famous Lovers and Scorced Earth
Nogent-Sur-Seine
is a quaint and quiet French country village whose founding dates from
Gallo-Roman
times, located
at a bend in the Seine River before
it wanders across the flat plains toward Paris. Noted for its
walks along the river banks and its half-wood medieval paneled houses,
Nogent’s
most notable building in town is the Pavillion of Henry IV, dating
from the
16th Century where the French king met with Gabrielle d’Estree
and now houses a changing series of exhibitions of local arts and culture,
crafts
and history. The house is located a few blocks from the SCNF rail station
and across the river from the main old town with its “cereal
wharf” from early medieval times, and
within view of the local nuclear power plant just up river.
Within view
across the gentle Seine in the center of the ville is the unique
Gothic
church
tower
of
St. Lawrence.
The “Maison
de la Turque” is
a house once owned by a Turkish woman which served as inspiration for
French novelist Gustav Flaubert in his “A Sentimental Education”.
The local Paul Dubois and Alfred Boucher Museums house archeological
collections from Paleolithic times the Roman days along with sculptures
of Dubois,
Boucher and Camille Claudel.
Nogent-sur-Siene's
stategic location on the approach to Paris is noted for battles in
the 100 Years War between England and France and features in the
history of Joan
of
Arc.
It was almost destroyed in Napoleon's defeats on 1814 on his retreat
to Paris (see Fontainebleu
Napoleon Museum), described by Mary Wollstonecraft
Shelley on a European trip, before famously writing Frankenstein - "Nogent
had been entirely desolated by the Cossacs. Nothing could be more
entire than the ruin which these barbarians
had spread
as they advanced; perhaps they remembered Moscow and the destruction
of the Russian villages; but we were now in France, and the distress
of the inhabitants, whose houses had been burned, their cattle killed,
and all
their wealth destroyed, has given a sting to my detestation of war,
which none can feel who have not travelled through a country pillaged
and wasted
by this plague, which, in his pride, man inflicts upon his fellow."
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The Hugues
de
Payns
Museum
of the Templar Knights is a few kilometers to the east (see Payns
Secrets of the Templars).
For more literary and historical heritage the tiny romantic hamlet
of Le Paraclet, the location of the famed and tragic medieval lovers
Heloise
and Abelard is nearby, and the gorgeous and elegant 18th Century
Chateau La Motte-Tilly used as a location of the movie "Dangerous
Liasons" is just 15 minutes to the south of the village (see Chateau
La Motte-Tilly). © Bargain
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See Also:
TROYES HEART OF AUBE CHAMPAGNE
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DES CHATEAUX BOURGOGNE
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ST MICHEL DE LANES - LANGUEDOC
