Monuments to visit Loire-Atlantique

Feel free to walk through the piriacaises streets to admire the old granite houses, flowered by hydrangeas and hollyhocks. The narrow and winding streets stretch out their arms, some of them will offer you the sea as a backdrop. Venture in the footsteps of the famous writers who came to stay in Piriac. Several houses in the port belong to the family of the writer Alphonse de Châteaubriant and date back to the 17th century. The large house, reminiscent of the Flemish style, received the writer regularly until the last war. Castel Rado (2, rue Neuve) was built in 1626 and has a beautiful stone staircase, dormers and an original roof. At the entrance to the alleyway of the Sourd, one of the oldest houses in Piriac, dating from 1640, can be seen on the left

The bell tower of the church has been refurbished as a panoramic tower from which one can enjoy a very clear view. You can admire the lake of Grand-Lieu and its marshes, as well as the eastern part of the Pays de Retz. You can see the towns of Saint-Mars-de-Coutais and Sainte-Pazanne, and sometimes, when the conditions are optimal, you can even see as far as the towers of Nantes. You will have to climb the 158 steps to reach the platform, 40 m high.

One of the few known bifaces wayside (th century), representing on one side the Crucifixion and the other the Visitation. Pen ar ran means in Breton state point.

The foundations of the fortress date from the year 984. They were ordered by countess Aremberge. Charles VIII decided to shave the castle before rebuilding it in the fifteenth century. The unique remnants of the ancient medieval enclosure are the two large, massive entrance towers. One can still see part of the fortress, leftovers and a polygonal bastion. In the courtyard there is a Renaissance logis of 1535 recently restored with its high-fronted windows and its square tower. Some pavilions were added in the seventeenth century. In 1977, the castle was classified as a historic monument and became property of the City in 1986. Starting in the 1990 s, work was undertaken: demolition of the nineteenth century chapel and the school building of the 1960 s and restoration of the châtelet.

Its construction dates back to 1690. This massive building has walls of a metre thick and a stone vault doubles the slate cover. It is one of the three Garde guard bodies to shelter the coastguard militia. He was part of the harbour of the coastguards whose authority stretched from the Croisic to La Roche-Bernard.

A former fortified manor house of the 1826 th century, which only remains monumental after its destruction in. He was the property of the Tournemine and the Protestant wedding of Peter de Tournemine and Mary de Kermarec were celebrated there.

From the th century, it retained only its doorway of ogival form. It served as a place of worship for Protestants in the sixteenth century because Piriac was with Careil and Le Croisic a stronghold of Protestantism.

Gerbetière is a noble house whose name comes from gerbernate, which used to name a place where the blades were stored and located just near the house. John James Audubon (1785-1851) was a multi-disciplinary man, both painter, scholar, scholar, poet and adventurer. Naturalist and famous animal artist, he spent his youth in Couëron. Its childhood home, La Gerbetière, is visible in the street that bears its name. Until 1821, she appeared on the Audubon family before being bought by the mayor of Couëron in 2003. The stay is only on the Heritage Days.

You sit on a bench facing the castle and a 20-metre high water jet rises in front of you! As you sit down, you have just activated the mechanism of a contemporary work of art by Jeppe Hein. When you get up, the jet falls back, which surprises you a ^second time. And you wonder: that's exactly what the artist wants! The work Did I Miss Something? ("Did I miss something?"), has been relocated here for the Estuaire 2012 art event. Indeed, it had been installed on the Loire in 2007, but the currents had damaged the mechanism. Enjoy the wooded park and on Sundays, visit the guest rooms decorated by artists!

They ceased their activity in 1875. A blast furnace, the houses of the founder and his clerk at the Étang Pond, the house of the master of the forges at the pond of Provostière are the remains.

You can see it at the entrance of La Turballe, on the road to Saint-Molf, at the place called Les Quatre Routes.... Rue du Moulin! Formerly called "Moulin de Maincrom" (the curved stone), named after the plot where it was built in the 18th century, it was modernised in 1893: it was raised by one floor and provided with a second pair of wheels, equipped with the Berton system and an orientation reel (butterfly). Its construction dates back to the 18th century, but it was valiantly ground wheat and barley until 1969. A visit to this windmill reveals the mechanism that crushes the grain and extracts the flour. On 4 levels, the strength of the wings, 52 m² of sail area, drives the spinning wheel, the lantern, the big iron, which, in turn, by various gears, rotate the sorter, the running wheel, the blender, to obtain the fine flower and the oatmeal... A miller's house, next door, a former storage place, presents a collection of objects from the past in order to bring back to life the time when the donkey came and went between the farm and the mill... and that the wings turned in the wind... These items were collected from donors. Among the objects are: headdresses and costumes, embossing and ironing irons, lace, heaters, clogs... The miller's house can be visited free of charge, in addition to the visit to the mill.

The bell tower of the church Notre-Dame-de-Mercy, known as Trescalan Church, offers the highest view of the peninsula. At a height of 33 m, it rises on the hillside at 45 m above sea level. At the origin of the construction, the bell was finalized in its upper part by a dome roof. A panoramic bezel allows very beautiful views and a complete overview of the entire landscape extending from the mouth of the Loire to that of the Vilaine, towards the wide and the islands of Morbihan and towards the great Brière. To access it, you have to climb 110 steps. After a 1 ^st level you can discover the arch of the church's frame. The church, for its part, includes many curiosities such as the ship Pie IX, ex-voto suspended in the choir, the statue of Notre-Dame-de-Brandu (Virgin to the Child) and the statue of polychrome wood dressed in Saint Brigitte.

This castle is private but you can still see it. Although located close to Paulx, it is in fact common in the areas of Saint-Etienne-de-Mer and Paulx. In 1832, this castle was the theatre of one of the last skirmishes of the attempt to uplift the Duchess of Berry. Caraterie Castle dates back to the th century. But it replaces a more ancient edifice in 1832, because it was on that date that the Duchess of Berry decided to raise the country against Louis Philippe (the Orléans dynasty). She wanted to remove her, wearing her son (Bourbons dynasty, légitimistes) on the throne of King of France.

Three kilometres west of the village of Saint-Géréon, you will find the site of Pierre Meslière. Classified as prehistoric station due to the many stones found there, the site used to serve to empierrer the roads and manufacture the grinding. This is where the names of the Stones Meulières, which will become over time Stones Meslières. The site was discovered in 1877 by Viscount Pitre de Lisle du Dreneux (1846-1927), one of the first invaders in the department.

There was a plaque on the occasion of the 500 th anniversary of the death of François II, who died in this house. With Charles VIII, he signed the peace treaty between Brittany and France in 1488. In the church, just next door, stalls, classified in historical monuments, would come from Buzay abbey, located on the other bank of the Loire.

This Gothic manor house of the 1588 th century was the time of a stage, the future Henri IV, in. It was acquired by the commune.

This bourgeois house belonged to the Pineau family, one of which was a graduate of the Faculty of Medicine in Montpellier. This was Charette's headquarters during the wars of Vendée in 1793. Consisting of 2 perpendicular wings, this building was divided into 2 houses. The door to the motto «Deus Spes Nostra» gave access to a stone staircase. The position of the house allowed the leak by the fields. A son Pineau was deputy of Charette (defence of Noirmoutier). Ms Francheteau, granddaughter of Ms Pineau, wrote in 1857: " Charette had arrived a few days after the insurgency. He established his headquarters in his grandmother's house, he played with the children and raised them in his arms to pick cherries… '»»»»