Monuments to visit Vendée

Classified by Historical Monuments.

On the hills of Pouzauges, in a site with a remarkable panorama, two windmills built a century apart, in the 18th and 19th centuries, stand side by side. It is very rare today to find two windmills side by side in such good condition. The mills of Terrier Marteau are among the rare mills to have preserved this type of operation. In 1848 a wooden slat system that could be folded along the yard and greatly facilitated the work, often replaced the sails (Berton system). The millstones of the mills crush the wheat to produce flour. The visit, which lasts about 1 hour, allows you to understand how flour is made. During the renovation of the site in 2017, the association wanted to give a real economic activity to the mills. This is why tons of wheat are now transformed into organic flour, sold on site and in the city's shops. Some days the miller (who is also a baker) is present and takes advantage of the wood-fired oven to offer visitors his round of breads and brioches. Near the two windmills, an annex building allows the making of bread and a wood-fired oven, carefully preserved, allows the baking of bread and brioche. The crushed wheat becomes flour, some days the baker transforms it into bread and then bakes it in the wood-fired oven. A mini-farm with two donkeys in particular, captivates the children, while the older ones discover the wheat route and the life of the mills.

The small town has a piece of architecture that bears witness to the technological and industrial progress of the late 18th century... A gothic bridge which can be proud of having been created by one of the most famous architects of France, Gustave Eiffel himself, in his workshop in Levallois-Perret. In 1878, the Ponts et Chaussées decided to rebuild the old gothic bridge. It consists of two vertical lattice girders, connected at the base by crossbeams, supporting the deck. The high metal parapets themselves form a lattice.

In the heart of the beautiful Saint-Hilaire church, whose restoration was completed in 2018, a site dedicated to the art of stained glass, from its conception to its realization, which offers us a playful and interactive discovery of this art. The different areas of the site allow everyone to follow the stages of the design of stained glass windows through models and tools, but also to decipher the messages carried by these works of art and discover the work of master glassmakers from the Vendée. The optical theatre presents the history of stained glass since the 12th century. The church of Saint-Hilaire has three stained glass windows evoking the Vendée War, made by the original master glass artist from Mortagne-sur-Sèvre, Roger Degas (1899-1981). The stained glass windows in the Vendée are presented (Vendée collection). Visitors will be able to contemplate the masterpiece of the site, the stained glass window by Louis Mazetier - one of the leading figures in French sacred art from the 1930s to the 1950s - a 10-metre high window (weighing 4 tonnes) designed to be installed in one of the high bays of the nave of Notre-Dame de Paris. Every 15 minutes, a spectacular projection is shown on this stained glass window initially installed in Notre-Dame, then in a box, and finally "forgotten" in the galleries of Notre-Dame to escape the Second World War. There is also a fun and interactive area for children who can reconstruct the stained glass window in a jigsaw puzzle, and for older children there is a cultural agenda to follow with events and temporary exhibitions.