Things to see and do Haute-Vienne

Hemmed in the district of La Motte, this elegant Gothic building dominates the city of its 65 metres. It was built from 1364 onwards. Its octagonal steeple/porch is topped with a antifoudre boule boule ball, a real emblem of the regional capital before the Benedictine station is built. She replaced another wooden sphere of 600 kg installed in 1914 and removed two years later by the Germans. On each side of the south portal, two (very eroded) granite lions gave their names to the church and raised their guard: they come from Gallo-Roman funeral monuments and served in the Middle Ages to delimit the courts of the Vicomté and the St. Martial Abbey. A «hall» plan and the inclined pillars of the th century stained glass windows on the life of Saint-Jean-Baptiste and the life of the Virgin, and the socket containing the relics of Saint Martial, preserved here since the demolition of the Basilica.

Until the th century, the city extended its fortifications, a variety of ramparts called ditches. The enclosure would have been a six-door breakthrough. Only the gates of Saint John and Puycharraud were spared. You can follow the route of the th century bastion, Place-Mautondon square, which extends to the tower of the Vineyard by taking the direction of the Rue du Four, which takes the name of a door. The Saint John door is to visit all year round (key to the Market bar). The town testifies to an architecture of houses dating back to the th century, such as that of Joachim du Chalard, the Bailiff, the Book, the Echauguette, Rogues de Fursac or the Seneschal.

The underground lantern of the dead and an alleged menhir of La Jéraphie, a medieval point.

Left in the most total abandonment since the 1993 th century, he now finds his letters of nobility thanks to the work and rehabilitation carried out since by the youth and culture house in partnership with the municipality (owner of the site), Historical Monuments, the regional service of archaeology. The enclosure is a reinforced irrégulier of three round towers. In circular form, the three-storey dungeon dominates with its-metre height. Free entry all year.

Located near 1 km northwest of the vicus or Las Tours sods, residence of the lords, they dates from the th century. This château castle with two artificial mounds is surrounded by ditches. This seigneury reaches the rank of vicomté in the 80 th century, to become châtellenie in the th century and extend its domination over nearly parishes.

It stretches over 50 ha and dates back to the Gallo era. Excavations have revealed the existence of habitat buildings, public buildings such as temples and a thermal sector. Long routes are identified as that from Lyon to Poitiers.

Parish church of the Assumption of the Virgin. The crypt is what remains of a primitive place of worship. The construction extends from 1019 to 1220, both Romanesque and Gothic. Notice the high relief on the southern portal representing the Virgin to the Child. Note two paintings, La Virgin surrounded by a angels concert of Pieter van Mol (1512 th century) and a copy of a fresco executed by Raphaël in at the Vatican on the initiative of Pope Jules II. There are beautiful sculptures. In the course of the work.

La Souterraine, located in the Pays Sostranien region, has a tourist office where visitors can obtain information on activities, tours, accommodation and restaurants in the area. The tourist office team is made up of Françoise, Jeanne, David and Lionel, who are on hand to help visitors with any queries they may have. Contact details for the tourist office are: 2 Place de la Gare, 23300 La Souterraine, telephone: 05 55 89 23 07.

Near the bridge spanning La Creuse, from which one has a beautiful overview of the village, is the tool of the Tool in rural areas. Housed in the abbey's former mill, it contains more than a thousand old tools, machines and instruments and evokes dozens of old crafts. Temporary exhibitions.

Built in the 1591 th century, partly destroyed during the Hundred Years War, rebuilt in 1489, destroyed in 1673, it was, from 1681 to, recorded from a part of its ruins and decorated with beautiful woodwork. The church includes a Romanesque part, the square of the transept surmounted by the steeple, the choir and a Gothic part, the western portal of the th century. You enter the perimeter of the church by a beautiful th century granite portal with six voussures, with a great number of outstanding invoice characters. A garden occupies the location of the nave and its bas. There will be debris debris, tents, a toe point on which, according to legend, Saint Martial would have been linked to slam him during his passage to Ahun. On the right, entering the church, a limestone altarpiece from the end of the th century. But the remarkable element is the ensemble of woodwork executed from 1673 by Simon Bauer, faire sculptor. The altarpiece that controls the autel covered in its lower leather part of Cordoba is made up of high columns adorned with pampre with birds, snakes and snails. It is gathered at stalls by a richly decorated intermediate etc. The 26 stalls are decorated with a variety of fantaisie. The fence of the choir is surmounted by two Christ attached to the same cross, one turned towards the east, the other (crowned) to the west. In the middle of the choir, a remarkable stand made up of a octagonal base column and two made-back lions, apparently, in the same oak piece. In the chore, two polychrome wooden statues, shrines, a wooden cross of the th or th century and another in boxes of the th century (guided tours all year round: 05 55 62 53 93).

This feuillardier has installed his cabin here and he explains very well his craft.

The site of this association promoting equestrian tourism in the department is very well done in which the itineraries open on the Plan of Promenade and hiking, the ideas for touring and the professionals with whom to go.

This house opened in April 2012 works for the preservation and promotion of the Occitan limousine culture it defines as a natural, historical, monumental and linguistic heritage. From activities to collect limousins knowledge, it organizes animations, workshops (from April to October) and cultural gatherings such as "Fest's wind" in the spring or the feast of the traditional games of the Limousin during the Days of Heritage. The exhibitions are in free access. Hikers, visitors, tourists and hikers are welcome all year round to learn about the history of this Occitan land.

Rendezvous at Place Pierre-Ferrand for this short hike to discover the hamlet of Arfeuille. Before leaving, you can, if you wish, obtain the topo-guide of the itinerary (1 €) from the Tourist Office of Vassivière. Otherwise, rely on the yellow markings that accompany you. The route is easy and takes you to the pond via peat bogs. By the way, do you know where the names Arfeuille and Royère de Vassivière come from? If the first would most probably come from the Latin acrifolium (meaning "holly"), the appellation of Royère de Vassivière would come from the Latin robre ("rouvre") and vaciver ("pasture"). Both refer to the major clearing works undertaken between the 11th and 12th centuries: the forest massifs then became arable land, on which the two localities are located today.

Rate: free of charge.

Distance: 4.5 km.

Duration: 1 hour 45 minutes.

Difficulty: fairly easy.

Markings: yellow.

The Bois wood is a Natura 2000 protected area and is the highest point in the High Viennese department (777 metres). This wooded massif, which dominates the lake, is distinguished in the landscape by its deciduous trees (mainly oaks and beech) when the surrounding areas have been invaded by the conifers. From stones to hollow roads, from washing into villages, you will cross the green heart of Limousin.

The Butte butte is a white quartz grout, remnant of the hydrothermal activity of the Oradour-sur-Glane fault at the end of the primary age. The ridge path offers beautiful views of the Charente limousine and the Lower Marche. A natural area of ecological interest, the place houses a great variety of floristic and faunistique with lande at heather. It is naturally maintained by limousines sheep and managed by the conservatory of the natural spaces of Limousin. In the heather, threatened birds nest in the image of Saint Saint or the nighthawk. At the beginning and at the end of the summer, when the hidden heather flowers and the vulgaire, the landscape becomes pink, a pleasure for your eyes.

The Slab jump is a waterfall at the confluence of the Gartempe. It consists of three successive falls in stairs with a height of three metres. The river circulates in a narrow passage formed by large rocks. Downstream, the enlarged valley and the rock blocks of all sizes cause remous and small falls. The site offers the opportunity of a charming hour walk, in a verdant forest setting around the river, between granite chaos and bocage plateaus.

A Natura 2000 site located in the communes of Saint-Léger-Magnazeix and Lussac-les-Churches, Murat Pond, with a surface area of 30 ha and built between 1474 and 1534, is owned by the High Vienna Hunters Federation, although hunting is prohibited. Known for a long time for its ecological richness, it offers a remarkable flora accompanied by a great richness of fauna in the image of its many species of water birds: foulgues, herons, teal, grèbe… At the time of migration, black geese and swans make it their resting area. Its flat structure and the quality of its humid natural habitats make it a privileged site for the rest, reproduction and nesting of the water birds. A climbing wooden hut on piles serves as an ornithological observatory, located in the extension of a communal road.

In the 40% th century, chestnut trees occupied of the cultivated land in the region. Today, it is in a conservatory orchard that the diversity of ancient varieties is preserved. You can also learn how to weave the different species to revive them. In this chestnut chestnut tree, the chestnut trail makes this symbolic fruit of Limousin discover the nine explanatory panels devoted to the life of the chestnut, to the gastronomy of its fruit, to the conservation of varieties, to the importance and role of the chestnut in history… Careful to be careful to be convenablement.

This site protected and managed by the Conservatoire régional des Spaces Naturel du Limousin, offers a special rock, the serpentine, an unusual landscape of rocky chaos emerging from women heather barrens (six different species). The remarkable fauna may give you the opportunity to observe a nighthawk or busard… and, as far as the flora is concerned, it is exceptional for the region. it is not uncommon to see a "" or a gentian gentian… On the 3 km interpretive trail, many panels give you the explanations necessary for understanding the environment. On the other hand, it is not always easy to find the starting point, located in the old Tuileries of Cluzeau.