Page 308 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - France

g THE HEROINE OF FRANCE
Orléans
Joan of Arc is the quintessential French
! D3 ⌂ Loiret ~ £ @ national heroine and woman martyr.
n 2 pl Etape; www. Her divinely led campaign to “drive the
tourisme-orleans English out of France” during the
metropole.com Hundred Years’ War has inspired plays,
poetry and films. She became cham-
Orléans’s dazzling modern
pion of the uncrowned Charles VII,
EXPERIENCE The Loire Valley as the geographic heart of the stake in Rouen in 1431 at
bridge symbolizes the city’s
but was captured in 1430 and accused
increasing importance
of witchcraft. She was burned at
both France and Europe. As
the age of 19. In 1920 she
a tourist, however, one is
was canonized in recog-
nition of her hero ism
struck by the city’s continued
and tragic martyrdom.
attachment to its past, most
particularly to Joan of Arc. It
was from here that the Maid
of Orléans saved France from
the English in 1429. Since her
Joan of Arc
martyrdom at Rouen in 1431, Statue of valiant
Joan remains a presence in
Orléans. Every 29 April and
1 and 7–8 May her liberation is still used for marriages and h
of the city is enthu siastically official ceremonies.Virtually
re- enacted in a pageant and opposite the Hôtel Groslot St-Benoît-sur-Loire
a blessing is given in the city’s and alongside the new town ! D3 ⌂ Loiret @ n 44 rue
Cathédrale Ste-Croix. hall is the Musée des Beaux- Orléanaise; www.
Though badly damaged in Arts, displaying a collection of tourisme-loire-foret.com
World War II, a faded grandeur European works of art from
lingers in recon structed Vieil the 16th to the 20th centuries. Situated along the River Loire
Orléans (Old Town), the Standing nearby, the between Orléans and Gien, St-
quarter bounded by the Cathédrale Ste-Croix is Benoît-sur-Loire boasts one of
cathedral, the River Loire and an imposing edifice begun the finest Romanesque abbey
place du Martroi. The latter, a in the late 13th century. The churches (1067–1108) in France.
Classical but rather windswept building was destroyed by It is all that survives of an
square, has an equestrian the Huguenots (Protestants) important monastery founded
statue of the city’s heroine. in 1568, and then rebuilt
Nearby the half-timbered in supposedly Gothic style
Maison de Jeanne d’Arc, between the 17th and
rebuilt in 1961 from period 19th centuries.
dwellings on the site where
Joan had lodgings in 1429, has Maison de Jeanne d’Arc
multimedia displays telling "' ⌂ 3 pl du Général de
her story. Gaulle # 10am–6pm Tue–
From place du Martroi, rue Sun (from 2pm Oct–Mar)
d’Escures leads past notable ∑ jeannedarc.com.fr
Renaissance mansions to the
cathedral. Hôtel Groslot is Hôtel Groslot
the grandest, a 16th-century ⌂ Pl de l’Etape § 02 38 79 22
red-brick mansion, where 30 # Jul–Sep: 9am–7pm daily
kings Charles IX, Henri III
and Henri IV all stayed. The Musée des Beaux-Arts
17-year-old François II died " ⌂ 1 rue Fernand Rabier
here in 1560 after attending a § 02 38 79 21 83 # 10am–
meeting of the États Généraux 6pm Tue–Sat, 10am–8pm Fri,
with his child bride, Mary, later 1–6pm Sun ¢ Pub hols
Queen of Scots. The building
served as Orléans’s town hall
from 1790 to 1982, and the
sumptuously decor ated People enjoying an open-
interior, which contains fas- air concert at Jardin des
cinating Joan memorabilia, Prés Fichaux, Bourges
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