Route details
Description
Happy hiking and remember that you are not alone on the trails you are about to travel. We therefore invite you to respect nature: avoid picking flowers and plants, do not leave any trash behind, respect inhabited places, stay on the trails, keep dogs on a leash.
-> Unmarked route
Your itinerary
Step 1: The Dungeon
On the banks of the Sèvre Niortaise, stands one of the most beautiful sets of twin Romanesque dungeons in France and the first building in Niort to be classified as a Historic Monument. It formed the central recess of a vast castle in the shape of a quadrilateral 1 m long. It was the King of England, Henry II Plantagenet, who, wanting to put in a state of defense the domains that his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine brought him through her marriage, decided to have it rebuilt, at the end of the 700th century, an impregnable fortress.
Step 2: Notre-Dame Church
Built from 1491 to 1534 in the flamboyant Gothic style on an old Romanesque chapel, the Notre-Dame church was remodeled and restored in the 75th, XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries. Classified as a Historic Monument, its north portal includes decorative elements belonging to the late Gothic and Renaissance periods. The Notre-Dame church is the tallest monument in the department. The spire of its bell tower is XNUMX meters high!
Step 3: Saint-Florent Church
This 123th-XNUMXth century church is built on the edge of the road to Santiago de Compostela leading to Saint-Jean-d''Angély. Its high, almost blind facade is pierced by a semi-circular door and is topped by a two-bay comb bell tower. Note the reuse in its masonry of four pre-Romanesque frame-shaped sculptures. Is it the representation of the life of man or that of Saint Florent and two representations of the Annunciation and the Visitation? Saint Florent, a Roman soldier converted and ordained priest by Saint Martin, lives as a hermit in a cave near the Loire. According to legend, he restores sight to the blind, heals the crippled and delivers those possessed by demons. He died at the canonical age of XNUMX at the end of the XNUMXth century.
Step 4: Saint-Hilaire Church
This 85th century church in the Byzantine neo-Romanesque style, financed in part by Emperor Napoleon III and signed Pierre-Théophile Segrétain, first departmental architect of Deux-Sèvres, bears the surname of the evangelist of Poitou, first bishop of Poitiers in the XNUMXth century century, Doctor of the Church who gave his name to XNUMX French communes including Saint-Hilaire-la-Palud, village and capital of the "Marais sauvage" in the Marais Poitevin.
Step 5: Saint-Maixent Church, Souché district
The Romanesque building was ravaged by Protestants, partially restored in the 17th century and enlarged in the 18th century. The statue in the bell tower represents Saint Maixent housed in a neo-Gothic canopy niche and treading the serpentine fairy Mélusine.
Step 6: The Gardens of the Breach
The second heart of Niort and a major trading center in the 2th century, La Brèche hosted the region's major agricultural and industrial fairs until the XNUMXth century. Today she finds a new lease of life. A vast green space in the heart of the city, it has become the favorite walking and meeting place for families and young people. Take advantage of its immense esplanade for a taste and pleasure break. The terraces of the bars and restaurants, sheltered from the century-old plane trees, will allow you to enjoy the musical strolls and other cultural shows which enliven the historic center and strengthen the link between the Place de la Brèche and the banks of the Sèvre Niortaise . Experience this new space in the heart of the city!
Step 7: The Pillory
Niort town hall until the Revolution, the Pillory is today a place for temporary exhibitions. In the Renaissance style, its decoration is borrowed from the castle of Azay-le-Rideau. Since May 2009, a guest artist has been given carte blanche each month. The municipality thus strongly encourages curiosity with regard to local contemporary creation. Free entry.
Step 8: The House of the Virgin
This half-timbered house from the 1440th-2009th century, listed in the supplementary inventory of Historic Monuments, is the former Dauphin inn, a name given in memory of the stay in the Dauphin sector during the Praguerie, a revolt movement of the lords fomented by the son of Charles VII in XNUMX. From the XNUMXth to the XNUMXth century, it was a post office for horses, a curio shop in the XNUMXth century, a café-grocery store, then the meeting place of the Young Economic Chamber in the XNUMXth century. Since XNUMX, it has been the property of guitarist Olivier Savariau and painter Delphine Drapier. Its current name comes from the Virgin and Child sculpted in the XNUMXth century. in a canopy niche by Niortais Henri Jacquelin.
Step 9: Quai de la Regratterie
Today, the quay has been renovated while retaining the original plan. It has become a place to stroll from the Jardin des Plantes to the Source du Vivier.
Step 10: Sainte-Pezenne Church
It is the oldest church in Niort. The primitive building, built on the site of a pagan temple dedicated to Thor, was rebuilt from the end of the 2003th century to the beginning of the 1147th century, remodeled from the 1557th century to the XNUMXth century, then listed in XNUMX. At the time Norman invasions (XNUMXth-XNUMXth century), the Pezenne nun fled to Aquitaine from her native Spain where persecution reigned. After walking for a long time with her companions Macrine and Colombe, she died of exhaustion on a hillside overlooking the Sèvre Niortaise. Miraculous healings around his tomb are the origin of a very popular pilgrimage. In XNUMX, on the occasion of the Second Crusade, Eleanor of Aquitaine donated the remains to the Count of Vermandois who took them to the north of France, to Saint-Quentin. The city was taken in XNUMX by the army of Philip II of Spain.
Step 11: The Donkey Mill
The Moulin d'Âne is located Rue du Moulin d'Âne at the entrance to the Pont de Surimeau, connecting the Sainte Pezenne district to that of Surimeau.
Step 12: La Roussille
Is a place called the Marais Poitevin, known for its lock, its causeway, its mill and its inn. One of the first airlock locks in France and the most important of the Niort to Marans locks.