Troyes is a colourised black and white masterpiece.
Surprise yourself with a visit to Troyes, the city of a thousand colours!
Explore the nine districts of Troyes and discover an exceptional heritage of magnificent colourful timber-framed houses, 16th-century town houses, narrow streets, courtyards and sumptuous churches.
The Champagne Fairs in Troyes
It was in this area that the famous Champagne Fairs were held from the 12th century onwards, supported by the Counts of Champagne, attracting traders from all over Europe and ensuring that the city flourished. Thanks to the "conduit of fairs", established in 1137, they guaranteed merchants of all origins compensation in the event of damage, even beyond their own domain.
The body of the champagne cork
We are in the "body of the champagne cork", which developed along the road to the west, towards Provins and Paris, in the 12th and 13th centuries, thanks to the prosperity of the Champagne Fairs.
Originally a rural area, the population grew from the 12th century onwards with the arrival of craftsmen and shopkeepers and the expansion of the Foires de Champagne, which were held in the vicinity and as far as today's Place Jean Jaurès. At the end of the Middle Ages, the political heart of Troyes gradually shifted westwards.
The Gallo-Roman city
We are in the "body of the champagne cork", which developed along the road to the west, towards Provins and Paris, in the 12th and 13th centuries, thanks to the prosperity of the Champagne Fairs.
Originally a rural area, the population grew from the 12th century onwards with the arrival of craftsmen and shopkeepers and the expansion of the Foires de Champagne, which were held in the vicinity and as far as today's Place Jean Jaurès. At the end of the Middle Ages, the political heart of Troyes gradually shifted westwards.
The Broce-aux-Juifs district
The "Broce-aux-Juifs" district was located within the walls of the first fortified town of Troyes, on the site of the ancient Gallo-Roman oppidum.
It extended from the Quai des Comtes de Champagne to the rue Boucherat and was home to Troyes' Jewish community.
Broce means "bush" or "brush" in Old French, a word found in Rashi's commentaries, which he defines as "a forest similar to thin, thick hair". Vines were probably grown here for the daily needs of the inhabitants.
A vast rectangle called "the town
The "body of the cork" was protected from the 13th century onwards by an enclosure lined with wide ditches. Situated along the main road to Paris, this vast rectangle known as the town was home mainly to craftsmen and shopkeepers.
From Bourg-L'Évêque to Bourg-Saint-Jacques
Première extension de la cité gallo-romaine à partir du Xe s. le Bourg-L’Évêque s’est développé le long de la voie principale vers la Bourgogne et la vallée du Rhône (paroisses Saint-Nizier et Saint-Nicolas).
Ce « quartier bas » est inclus dans l’enceinte du XIe s. bordée de son fossé (rue aux Cailles). Il s’étend ensuite jusqu’au Bourg-Saint-Jacques englobé au début du XIIIe s. dans le nouveau rempart du comte Thibaut IV.
No-one who comes to Troyes for the first time will leave indifferent! Pretentiousness and chauvinism, you might say! So ...
Seat of the bourgeois elite
The "upper quarter" was the seat of the bourgeois elite who ran the town from the 14th to the 16th century. The wealthiest merchant families, often related by marriage, lived mainly on rue Turenne or around the church of Saint-Pantaléon, as close as possible to the lively squares of the Champagne Fairs.
The textile activity of these merchants attracted traders from other regions and countries. This explains the presence of hotels with large stables, such as the Hôtel du Dauphin, one of the largest in the town (no longer in existence), which gave its name to the street (now rue Turenne).
The Swiss Valley
L’enceinte et les fossés nord-ouest protégeant le « corps du bouchon » depuis le début du XIIIe s. sont élargis et renforcés au XVIe s. En ruine au XIXe s, ils font place à un bel alignement de boulevards et de parcs publics, égayés d’un ruisseau artificiel appelé le fossé de la « Vallée suisse ».
Water in Troyes through the ages
As early as the Lower Palaeolithic (around 400,000 BC), the region was inhabited by nomads, who almost certainly found the resources they needed for their temporary settlement in the marshy area around Troyes. These populations became sedentary around 5000 BC.
In the first centuries AD, the Romans chose this site for their castrum (fortified city) Augustobona Tricassium, as it enabled them to guard the Via Agrippa bridge linking Milan to Boulogne-sur-Mer. The ancient city is located on an alluvial terrace not far from the river Vienne.
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