Paris1972-Versailles2003

This time thanks to my vast cd rom vault will tell you about a nice City that stays in the off the beaten path route but needs to be visited more. This will be my introduction in my black and white series ,no pictures. Do read my other post on it and many more of the region in my blog, Therefore, here is my take on this is Châlons en Champagne !!!  Hope you enjoy the post as I

The City of Châlons-en-Champagne is located in the Marne department no 51, in the Grand Est region of my belle France. It was also, the capital of the former Champagne-Ardenne region until its merger with Alsace and Lorraine on January 1, 2016. The best road here is the Autoroute de l’Est or A4 and D944/N44 roads,also, the D3 to L’Épine,  It is located 48 km from Reims, 34 km from Epernay, 8 km from L’Épine, 88 km from Verdun, 212 km from Versailles, and 657 km from my current home, We came here from Versailles along the potager du roi, parc Balbi to end to connect with the N12 road dir Vélizy-Villacoublay, this road becomes the outer ring of Paris or A86 continue dir Sceaux,/Rungis /Créteil to connect with the A4 autoroute dir Disneyland/Metz passing by nostalgic Meaux , and Reims then bear right onto the Péage de La Veuve (toll booth) exit/sortie 24 to get onto the N44 road which takes you to City center Châlons en Champagne alongside the Marne river on your right side to Bd Victor Hugo and bear left onto Place Saint Etienne and the Cathedral ,find on street parking along Rue Saint Dominique nearby.

Other things to see here if more time are the City/town hall built in 1771 is an elegant building in classical style; the Hôtel de l’Intendance, currently the regional prefecture, 18C; the Vinetz convent currently housing the administrative restaurant, the departmental solidarity services and an exhibition space in the old chapel with the departmental archives these buildings close the Place du Forum-de-l’Europe, the Sainte-Marie convent, rue de Jessaint, housing the departmental services , the Marché castle and its ramparts are located in the Petit-Jard bastion of Aumale, arch and bastion Mauvillain, le Cirque is one of the five buildings of this type remaining in France; It was built in 1899. It houses the National Center for Circus Arts, the only public educational institution of this nature in Europe; the Museum of Fine Arts and Archaeology at Place Godart, an important archaeological section (in reserves), from the Paleolithic to the 17C and a collection of paintings from the 15C to the 20C on the Nicolas-Appert Hall; the Cloister Museum of Notre-Dame-en-Vaux at Rue Nicolas-Durand, remarkable remains of the 12C canonical cloister of the Notre-Dame-en-Vaux collegiate church. 55 column statues are presented; the Garinet Museum at Rue Pasteur, is a former 16C house presenting the interior of a 19C bourgeois family. It has a fine collection of paintings; the Jacquesson castle, at avenue de Paris by Viollet-le-Duc, the only town house by this architect; the Toussaint abbey, which is the basis of the current École nationale supérieure d’arts et métiers and the former teachers’ school. The Garinet museum at 13, Rue Pasteur: stone and brick building built around 1515, seat of the Vidamé (a title of nobility from the Middle Ages whose holder was responsible for leading the army and collecting feudal dues from the lordships by the bishops of Châlons.) in 1599. The hotel known as the Maison des Œuvres at 25, Rue Pasteur, the hotel was built in the middle of the 17C and enlarged in the 19C. Formerly, the entrance of the cars was made by the rue Baudelot and the land extended to the rue de Flocmagny. This property since 1878 is of the diocesan association, which explains why it is called today “the House of Works” The Dubois de Crancé hotel at 1, rue d’Orfeuil constructed in the middle of the 17C. Denis Diderot who stayed there in August 1759 will describe in a letter to Grimm the interior of the residence. This hotel is currently an annex of the City/town hall; The Collégiale Notre-Dame-en-Vaux ; a collegiate church, that is to say it housed a community of canons. The current church was begun before 1157, replacing an earlier church which had collapsed. Its reconstruction was completed in 1217. Begun in the “transitional” style ;intermediate between Romanesque and Gothic, it was finished in Gothic. Church of Saint-Alpin: dedicated to Saint Alpin, Bishop of Châlons at the beginning of the 5C. It already existed in the 9C and was rebuilt around 1170 in a Gothic style still influenced by the Romanesque style. The Church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste is extremely interesting because, having been built from the 11C to the 17C, it allows us to follow, without interruption, the evolution of architecture from Romanesque art to Renaissance art. The construction of the nave and side aisles seems to date back to the last quarter of the 11C. Porte Sainte-Croix, also called Porte Dauphine. It was erected in 1769 and dedicated in 1771 to Marie-Antoinette, on the occasion of her arrival in France for her marriage to the Dauphin, the future King Louis XVI. Only the south-east face, visible to Marie-Antoinette upon her arrival, is ornamented.

A bit of history tell us that at the intersection of the Marne river and the Via Agrippa, the Romans, threatened on their borders, created the site of Châlons as the capital of a civitas. The first battle of the Catalaunian Fields in 274, known as the Battle of Châlons, pitted the Roman forces of Emperor Aurelian against those of the Gallic Emperor Tetricus. Aurelian’s victory led to the definitive return of Gaul to Rome. Historians agree that Saint Memmia was the missionary of the region and the first bishop of the Civitas Catalaunorum. Thus, the creation of the diocese of Châlons followed the religious peace of Constantine. In 451, the second Battle of the Catalaunian Fields took place at an unclear location, pitting Aetius and his Roman-Frankish army against Attila, King of the Huns. This battle marked the end of the invasion of Gaul by the Hunnic hordes. The Carolingian period is dominated by the figure of Bishop Erchanré. He played a role in the topographical structuring of the city by promoting its expansion to the east: he transferred the relics of his predecessor Saint Alpin to the old church of Saint Andrew. Charles the Bald granted several diplomas to the Church of Châlons. The foundation of the Abbey of Saint-Pierre-aux-Monts, under the leadership of Richard de Saint-Vanne, then the foundation by Bishop Roger III of the Abbey of Canons Regular of Toussaint, marks this development, in a diocese where monastic establishment was previously weak. In the 12C, the bishops of Châlons encouraged the establishment of Cistercians and Templars in their diocese.

The bishop of the diocese became lord of the city. Like the bishop of Reims, he made his lordship an independent enclave in the center of the hereditary county of Champagne. Guy III of Joinville, who is said to have been the first bishop to allude to a county power, then Pierre de Hans claimed the title of “count” against the king. Chatelain, high justice, the bishop-count of Châlons held his pleas by delegating provost and bailiff, while the gallows were erected outside the city and the pillory erected on the corn market square. The bishop lived in his palace, had his prison, his “escriptoire” in the lodge of justice, where the notary also acted. He dominated the city’s finances and police, as well as the corporations united under banners, the most important of which was the Hôtel-Dieu Saint-Étienne. When the county of Champagne passed to the crown of France in 1304, thanks to the marriage of Joan to Philip the Fair in 1284, the bishop did not lose his rights. On the contrary, the count was the bishop’s vassal. Boundaries in the streets and houses demarcated him from his neighbors, the other ecclesiastical lords: the chapter of the Saint-Étienne Cathedral, the abbot and the Benedictine monks of the Saint-Pierre-aux-Monts Abbey, the abbot and the canons regular of the Toussaint-en-l’Île Abbey, in fact, owned the rest of the city’s houses outright, along with a few minor nobles and good bourgeois. Furthermore, the city retained an authorization for eight days of fair in October, by the letters patent of kings Charles VII of France and then Louis XI, in order to increase its power,

From the English threatening the city walls in 1429 to Charles V, who set up camp two leagues from Châlons in 1544, ultimately sparing the city an assault. With the Wars of Religion, unrest began again. Bands of mercenaries led by gentlemen, such as Antoine de Croy, the armies of the League and the royal troops ransomed, pillaged Champagne or simply supplied themselves in Châlons. Still loyal to the power in place in Paris, then rallied to Henri IV, On June 21, 1791, the royal family fled Paris. They stopped in Châlons. The royal berth arrived four hours late. The cavalrymen detached at Pont-de-Somme-Vesle, tired of waiting for the royal carriages to pass and threatened by the peasants, received the order from their young leader, the Duke of Choiseul, to withdraw across the fields and reach Varennes-en-Argonne, avoiding the roads. In September 1792, a vast military camp, the Châlons camp, was set up at Mont Saint-Michel in Châlons, from which the future victors of the Battle of Valmy set out. Châlons was occupied from February 5 to March 15, 1814. The city was recaptured by the Cossacks on March 17.

The Châlons camp was created by Napoleon III by decree on November 15, 1856, and he inaugurated it on August 30, 1857. He would come there every year until the end of the Empire. Napoleon III surrendered to the Châlons camp on August 17, 1870, during the final days of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, with the aim of organizing the general retreat of the French army. Only the Army of Alsace, commanded by General MacMahon, managed to reach the city on August 16, 1870. The Army of Lorraine, under the command of General Bazaine, was trapped in Metz after numerous battles in its surroundings. Châlons was occupied from September 4 to September 12, 1914. On October 24, 1921, the American Unknown Soldier was designated at the City/town hall, there is a plaque visible in the lobby, and he rests in Arlington National Cemetery, near Washington DC. From May 11 to June 10, 1940, during the Battle of France, the city center was regularly bombed by the Luftwaffe. The city was then the site of a decisive battle from June 12 to 15, 1940. The main objective of the nazis was to cross the Marne river to follow the direction of Troyes and Paris and to take the Châlons train station, whose railway line went from Paris to Strasbourg. Châlons was occupied by the nazis army on June 15, 1940. The City was liberated by General George S, Patton on August 29 1944,

The Châlons en Champagne tourist office on its heritage : https://www.chalons-tourisme.com/decouvrir/chalons-en-10-incontournables/

The City of Châlons en Champagne on its heritage : https://www.chalonsenchampagne.fr/ville/services/culture-tourisme/culturez-vous/chalons-ville-dart-et-dhistoire

The Marne dept 51 tourist office (Champagne) on Châlons en Champagne : https://www.tourisme-en-champagne.co.uk/sites-monuments#path=commune/CHALONS-EN-CHAMPAGNE

The Grand Est region tourist office on Châlons en Champagne :https://www.explore-grandest.com/en/champagne/visit-chalons-en-champagne-the-grand-ests-sparkling-venice/

There you go folks, another dandy in my belle France passing by visiting and enjoying its monuments, as said this area is more than Champagne . I told you so !! We look forward to be back, eventually! So much to see in a nostalgic region of many family visits going way back in time, Again, hope you enjoy this post on this is Châlons en Champagne !!! as I

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