Paris1972-Versailles2003

Once again looking back into my vault found me older paper pictures that should be in my blog, after all, this is my life’s history ! This is on historical Verdun, a wonderful city in to visit anytime. There are some nice monuments here that should be visited, too many need to be back, eventually, Again, I take this opportunity to offer me and you this new post. Therefore, here is my take on this is Verdun !!! Hope you enjoy the post as I

The City of Verdun was officially appointed as Verdun-sur-Meuse from 1801 to 1970, and back to Verdun ;located in the Meuse department no, 55, in the Grand Est region of my belle France. It is in the historic and cultural region of Lorraine. The town is located 225 km from Paris and 184 km from Strasbourg. In Lorraine, it is 58 km from Metz, 78 km from Nancy, the Belgian border is 40 km away, that of Luxembourg at 50 km, that of Germany at 80 km, that of the Netherlands at 225 km and that of Switzerland 220 km. It is 298 km from Versailles ,and 727 km from my house.

You can reach by road on the departmental road 603 ( old RN 3), which connects it to the west in Paris via Châlons-en-Champagne and Meaux (I did first from here), and to the east in Saarbruck (Germany) via Metz. The city is also placed on the departmental road 964 connecting it to the north in Charleville-Mézières, and to the south in Lure via Commercy and Neufchâteau.The RD 1916, better known as  Voie sacrée  or Sacred Way. The latter was the logistical artery of the Battle of Verdun in 1916 during the Great War or WWI. The city is served by the A4-E50 motorway, called Autoroute de l’Est, connecting Paris to Strasbourg via Reims and Metz the access is either at the level of the exit sortie 30 “voie sacrée” or at the level of the Exit 31 “Verdun”, These never use but for reference info is the train station built in 1868 according to the plans of engineer Gustave Eiffel, located near the city center, is part of the Saint-Hilaire-au-Temple line in Hagondange. It is served by TER Lorraine, allowing you to reach Metz or Nancy via correspondence at Conflans-Jarny, in Meurthe-et-Moselle train station line 30 Meuse TGV station is 25 km south of Verdun, on the territory of the town Les Trois-Domaines. The CAGV (Communauté d’agglomération du Grand Verdun) authority for public transport in the 26 towns of Grand Verdun, with conventional lines including Verdun, The nearest regional airport is that of Metz-Nancy-Lorraine at 80 km, and Roissy Charles de Gaulle or Orly, or Luxembourg-Findel airport located 100 km in Luxembourg.

Some of things to see here and will condence as this is a must City to visit with lots of places worthy of a visit, me think, I will be back, eventually, These are the Notre-Dame Cathedral,at Place Monseigneur Ginisty was built in the 10C. It is the oldest cathedral in Lorraine and the largest Romanesque building in eastern France. The former episcopal palace, place Monsignor Ginisty was built from 1724 by Robert de Cotte, architect of King Louis XV, for Bishop Charles François d’Hallencourt. It is sometimes considered the most prestigious episcopal palace in Lorraine. Since 1994, it has been hosting the World Center for Peace, Freedoms and Human Rights, a place of exhibition and a space for meeting and reflection, the former Saint-Paul abbey, rue Saint-Paul is founded in 973 by the Benedictines. In 1135, she passed under the order of the premontracts. After having been destroyed in 1552 on the order of the King of France Henri II for military reasons, it is rebuilt from 1686 to 1698. Since the French revolution, the buildings have housed the courthouse and the sub-prefecture of Verdun , The tour de Vanne is the last vestige of the Saint-Vanne abbey, entrance to Place de la Roche founded in 952 by the Benedictines, and whose name is taken from Saint Vanne, eighth bishop of Verdun , Saint-Victor Church, rue Saint-Saint Victor is a Gothic church dating from the 14C to the 18C and dedicated to Saint Victor and Saint Maurice. Since 1685, it has housed a statue of the Virgin that Verdun honors under the name of Notre-Dame-des-Clefs, the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Church, avenue de la 42nd Division was erected in 1884 in the Faubourg district. Literally cut in two in 1916, it was rebuilt identically apart from the two bell towers which replace the only pre-war tower. The new stained glass windows pay tribute to the soldiers, mixing religious and patriotic feelings ; the Sainte-Jeanne-d’Arc Church, Place Georges Guérin was built in concrete between 1962 and 1965 in the Cité Verte district on the initiative of the bishop Pierre Boillon. Architecture represents a stylized version of the standard of Joan of Arc. The style of the building is inspired by the work of Le Corbusier, in particular of the Notre-Dame-du-Haut Chapel in Ronchamp

The City/Town Hall is a former mansion built in 1623 in Louis XIII style, it is made up of a main body surmounted by a campanile and two wingsThe Hôtel de la Princerie is a mansion built in 1525 by the Musson brothers, rich canons of the cathedral chapter. The building takes its name from its location on the old home of the princely or primaryh, the highest dignitary in the diocese after the bishop. Since 1932, he has welcomed the Princerie Museum The Théâtre de Verdun has been built at the site of an old wheat hall destroyed during the 1870 siége. It was inaugurated on November 4, 1893 by Raymond Poincaré , then Minister of Fine Arts. The facade has Corinthian columns and balconies. The interior is an Italian theater on 5 levels, composed of neo-baroque decorations in golden stucco, of a dome illustrated with a fresco carrying a large crystal chandelier, all reminiscent of a reduced copy of the Opéra Garnier of Paris The Battlefields since 2011, the battlefields and the places of memory of the Great War or WWI around Verdun are part of a UNESCO World Heritage Class project The Underground Citadel of Verdun is a set of galleries dug from 1886 to 1893 by military engineers under the citadel of Verdun, which was built from 1624 to 1635. In 1914, the galleries cumulated a length of almost 4 km, and at the end of the war, they extended to 7 km It was in the citadel that on November 10, 1920 took place the designation of the unknown soldier who rests under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris Le Pont-Ecluse Saint-Amand is a defensive system designed by Vauban and built by Perrault of 1680 to 1685. It was part of a set of three bridges, with those of Saint-Airy and Saint-Nicolas today gone, which made it possible to flood the sector upstream of Verdun on 14 km under a depth of 2 to 2.5 meters of water. It then took six days to succeed in a complete flood, it is renowned as being the only one in France to still have its maneuver building with all its mechanism The city retains traces of the Grand Rempart or large bulwark, a fortified 5C enclosure which surrounded the city the porte Chaussée or Tour Chaussée was built in 1380 The tour de l’Islot or Islot tower is a circular flanking tower along the way round of the rampart. Built in the 14C, the tour du Champ or fields tower is a horseshoe tower dating from the 14C and located on the eastern part of the rampart La Tour des Plaids is a corner tower built around 1380. There are also other vestiges of fortifications: the porte Châtel or Porte Noire or Porte Champenoise is the last of the three gates of the fortification La Fermeté or firmness which surrounded the upper city in the Middle Ages. Built in the 12C, it was supplemented by jaws in the 14c-15C.The porte Saint-Victor gate was erected at the end of the 17C at the site of a first gate built around 1380 and destroyed in 1685 ; the Porte Saint-Paul gate was built in 1877 in the bastioned enclosure designed by Vauban to allow the path to trains to access the Verdun station the city has several commemorative conflict monuments, notably the First World War and the Battle of Verdun: monument to victory and to the soldiers of Verdun, monument to the children of Verdun dead For France ,Monument of Holland Friend Monument of the Sacred Way, and the Way of the National Necropolis of Bevaux,

From Place de la Nation nice parking we walked to see the Porte Chaussée ! The Porte Chaussée gate, or Tour Chaussée tower, is a city gate in Verdun,built in 1380 along the Meuse river redesigned in 1690, it served as a state military prison from 1755 in 1860 before being bought by the city in 1889. The monument is composed of two circular twin towers crowned with battlements 20 meters high, their outer walls are almost 2 meters thick. They are connected by a portico comprising a semicircular portal surmounted by a Tuscan pediment. The monument is Gothic in style, decorated with gargoyles and trefoil carvings. See above picture.

A bit of history I like, huge will condense as much as possible, bear with me its great, me think, It tell us the existence of the Verdun agglomeration dates back to antiquity where the Celts found an oppidum overlooking the Meuse river. At the end of the 5C, Clovis, king of the Franks, invaded northeast of Gaul. Verdun is besieged and the inhabitants send the priest Euspicius to negotiate their surrender. Clovis forgives the besieged and appoints Vanne, nephew of Euspicius, as the new bishop of Verdun , On the death of Clovis in 511, his son Thierry I receives the eastern part of Gaul which takes the name of Austrasia. In the 9C, the county of Verdun was included in the Carolingian Empire of Charlemagne in 843, the Treaty of Verdun which shares the ‘Carolingian Empire in three kingdoms – considered founder of Germany and France is signed. Episcopal Principality of the Holy Roman Empire since the 10C, Verdun was submitted by France in 1552. It forms with the other free cities of Empire, Metz and Toul, the province of Trois-Evêchés, which is definitively attached to the Kingdom of France in 1648 by the Treaty of Münster. Fortress of the east of France, the city is the scene of several battles, such as that of 1792 during the wars of the French revolution, and that of 1870 during the Franco-Prussian war. But it was above all the battle of Verdun of 1916, during the Great War or WWI, which made the city forever famous worldwide.

During the Grand Schism of the West, Verdun had two bishops. In addition, the protectors of the city follow one another, alternating between France and Saint-Empire, then between France and Burgundy In 1648, the Treaty of Münster, part of the Westphalia Treaties, confirms the attachment of the city and the bishopric of Verdun in the Kingdom of France The French revolution is rather well received by the locals. A new town is elected, a national guard is lifted and several popular clubs are created. But the episcopal city also knows dechristianization: religious orders are suppressed, their goods are sold to the most offenders, the priests were locked up or deported In 1792, following the declaration of war of France in the Holy Empire, the Prussian army led by the Duke of Brunswick entered Lorraine and sieges Verdun on August 30, she fell into the hands of the Prussians on September 2, Verdun capitulates. Finally, the Prussian army was defeated on September 20 during the Battle of Valmy ( a big blow to bring the monarchy back to France with political consequences) ,and left the city on October 14 under the Concordat de Bonaparte of 1801, calm returns.

During the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, Verdun was attacked on August 24 but resisted the bombing of enemy artillery despite the big damage suffered. Finally, after the surrender of Metz on October 27, General Guérin de Waldersbach, commander of the city, capitulates on November 8, 1870 after 81 days of siege. The city was occupied until September 13, 1873 with the Frankfurt Treaty in 1871, which confirmed the annexation of Alsace-Moselle, A first 10 forts belt, called “panique” or panic, is erected on the closest heights of Verdun. From 1880 to 1914, a second belt of 43 forts and military works was built within a perimeter of 45 km, of which the fort of Douaumont and the Fort de Vaux are part. The whole forms the fortified place of Verdun, connected by 180 km of railways with in its center the underground citadel of Verdun as a command post.

After the declaration of the Great War or WWI in 1914, civilians were evacuated from Verdun and the city is preparing for war. The battle lasted almost 10 months, in the fall of 1916, the French army, taking advantage of the Somme offensive, counterattack, took up the lost forts and pushes the Germans, Verdun is saved, The Battle of Verdun in 1916 is one of the largest in the world’s first world conflict. During the interwar period, the city is rebuilt with the help of Meusian elected officials (Raymond Poincaré and André Maginot) and foreign countries (United Kingdom, United States …). A new city appeared in 1929, with enlarged streets, released river quays and monuments, such as the cathedral, restored. Many war memorials are erected and the Douaumont ossuary is built on the heights of the agglomeration. Verdun becomes a place of pilgrimage for the fighters of the Great War and their families Verdun is no longer near the border and the latter is now defended by the Maginot line. During WWII, the city was evacuated in June 1940 and all the bridges were destroyed. The nazis took over the city on June 15, 1940 , and abandoned Verdun on August 31, 1944, chase out by the third army of the United States.

The Verdun tourist office on things to see: https://en.tourisme-verdun.com/the-sites-to-discover-14-18

The city of Verdun on things to see:https://www.verdun.fr/tourisme-loisirs/sites-historiques/

The official Verdun battlefields of WWI and forts: https://memorial-verdun.fr/en/

The official underground Citadel of Verdun : https://www.citadelle-souterraine-verdun.fr/

The official World Center of Peace : https://cmpaix.eu/fr/planacces/

The Meuse dept 55 tourist office on things to see : https://www.lameuse.fr/decouvrir-departement-de-la-meuse/les-incontournables

There you go folks, a nice walk to be able to see some wonderful architectural stunning building in historical Verdun. Enjoy the walk, the best way to see a place, no different here. Again, hope you enjoy the post on this is Verdun !!! as I.

And remember, happy travels, good health, andn many cheers to all !!!