Travel Guide Villiers-Sur-Morin

A stone's throw from Crécy-la-Chapelle, its station is located on the territory of this commune. This village and its church inspired many painters who found themselves in the valley of the Grand Morin. Amédée Servin arrived in Villiers in 1857 and settled at the Auberge du Pont-de-Villiers, opposite the Villiers-Montbarbin station, where many of his friends would join him. He met Jules Grenier, the local child, author of many books including La Brie d'autrefois. From their meeting, "Le Cercle artistique de Villiers-sur-Morin" will be born. A monument to his memory representing his bronze bust, the work of his friend the sculptor Falguière, was erected on the east gable of his house, at the crossroads of Picardy. Following the creation of the "Cercle artistique", Villiers-sur-Morin saw a succession of celebrities from all over Paris: Ferdinand Lunel, Serrier, Ostolle-Delage, Lili Grenier, model of Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Suzanne Valadon and her son Maurice Utrillo, Dunoyer de Segonzac, the Japanese painters Saeki and Fujita who exported and made known in their country the little village briard. Other personalities set down their luggage along the Grand Morin, including Jean Bruller dit Vercors, the author of Silence of the Sea, a book on the Resistance that he wrote underground in 1942