TROYES , ancient
capital of Champagne, is a gem. Its high, narrow streets of restored,
half-timbered houses protect an elegant Gothic cathedral, half-a-dozen
superb lesser churches, a fistful of Renaissance mansions and several
exceptionally good museums. The Town
As
tourist pamphlets are at pains to point out, the ring of boulevards
round the town is shaped like a champagne cork. In fact it's just as
much like a sock - a shape that's just as suitable, since hosiery and
woollens have been Troyes'
most important industry since the end of the Middle Ages, when Louis
XIII decreed that charitable houses had to be self-supporting and the
orphanage of the Hôpital de la Trinité set their charges to knitting
stockings.
Some of the old machines and products used for creating garments can be seen in the Musée de la Bonneterie
(June-Sept daily except Tues 10am-1pm & 2-6pm; Oct-May Wed-Sun
10am-noon & 2-6pm; €4.57), in the sixteenth-century Hôtel de
Vauluisant, opposite the church of St-Pantaléon at 4 rue de Vauluisant.
Beautifully restored and visually appealing, it sets an example for all
crafts museums with its respect for traditions and lack of
sentimentality. The building also houses the Musée Historique de Troyes (same hours and ticket), a small collection of unsophisticated religious art from the Troyes school. Just one block east is La Maison de l'Outil
, 7 rue de la Trinité (Mon-Fri 9am-1pm & 2-6.30pm, Sat & Sun
10am-1pm & 2-6pm; €4.57), in the beautiful sixteenth-century Hôtel
de Mauroy, a surprisingly fascinating museum of tools, with
seventeenth- and eighteenth-century exhibits providing a window into
the world of the workers who used them and the people who crafted them.
Despite being raked by numerous fires in the Middle Ages, Troyes has retained many of its timber-framed buildings south of the central main shopping street, in rue Émile-Zola , around the cathedral and particularly in the streets and alleyways of the old town off the pedestrianized rue Champeaux. The church of St-Jean-au-Marché
, between rues Émile-Zola and Champeaux (daily: July & Aug
10am-12.30pm & 1.30-7pm; rest of year 10am-noon & 2-4pm), is
where Henry V married Catherine of France after being recognized as
heir to the French throne in the 1420 Treaty of Troyes. Other churches
worth seeking out are the church of Ste-Madeleine , on the road
of the same name (same hours as St-Jean), whose delicate stonework rood
screen - used to keep the priest separate from the congregation - is
one of the few left in France; the sumptuous church of St-Pantaléon
(daily 10am-12.30pm & 2-5.30pm; July & Aug till 6pm), southwest
of the church of St-Jean, on rue Vauluisant; and the Gothic Basilique St-Urbain
, place Vernier (same hours as church of St-Jean), its exterior
dramatizing the Day of Judgement with the damned and the devils
providing a wicked variety of gargoyles.
Heading east from St-Urbain across the covered canal, you come to La Cité quartier , full of more museums and ancient buildings, and centred on the Cathédrale St-Pierre-et-St-Paul
(daily: July to mid-Sept 9am-1pm & 2-7pm; rest of year 9am-1pm
& 2-6pm), whose pale Gothic nave is stroked with reflections from
the wonderful stained-glass windows. Next door to the cathedral, housed
in the old bishops' palace on place St-Pierre, is the Musée d'Art Moderne
(daily except Tues 11am-6pm; €4.57), an outstanding museum displaying
part of an extraordinary private collection of art, particularly rich
in Fauvist paintings by the likes of Vlaminck and Derain - along with
other, first-class works by Degas, Courbet, Gauguin, Matisse (a
tapestry and three canvases), Bonnard, Braque, Modigliani, Rodin,
Robert Delaunay and Ernst. On the other side of the cathedral, the Abbaye St-Loup (daily except Tues 10am-noon & 2-6pm;
€4.57) houses collections of paintings, natural history and archeology,
and has a showcase window that gives onto an ornate Baroque library. In
similar vein, the Hôtel-Dieu , back down rue de la Cité, has a richly decorated sixteenth-century pharmacy (Wed, Sat & Sun 2-6pm; €3.05; entrance on quai des Comtes de Champagne).
Quite different from the rash of Christian churches in Troyes is the synagogue
on rue Brunneval, inaugurated in memory of the Jewish scholar Rachi
(1040-1105) in 1987. He was a member of the small Jewish community
which flourished for a time during the eleventh and twelfth centuries
under the protection of the counts of Champagne.
His commentaries on both the Old Testament and the Talmud are still
important to academics today: the Rachi University Institute opposite
is devoted to studying his work.
Copyright Rough Guides Ltd as trustee for its authors. Published by Rough Guides.
All rights reserved.The Rough Guides name is a trademark of Rough Guides Ltd.
