La Charité-sur-Loire
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La Charité-sur-Loire is a town and commune of the Nièvre département, in France. Population (1999): 5,720.
[edit] History
The town began as the first of the Cluniac priories on an island site in the Loire.
A great fire ravaged the town in 1559. In the French Wars of Religion, it was one of the fortified towns granted as Huguenot safe havens by the Peace of Saint-Germain (August 1570). In the Second War the fortified town withstood eight months of siege by Catholic forces.
By the time of the French Revolution only a dozen monks remained in the priory, which was sold to private individuals and preserved. An improved highway that was to be driven through the church was deflected by the report of Prosper Merimée, the first inspector of monuments (and author of Carmen) who classed it as worth saving in 1840.
[edit] Sights
The priory stands as a ruin. The church Sainte-Croix-Notre-Dame was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998, as part of the Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France.
[edit] External link
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- Official webite (in French)
