N47 23 56.004 E0 42 10.008
Date of Inscription: 2000
Minor boundary modification inscribed year: 2017
Criteria: (i)(ii)(iv)
Property : 86,021 ha
Buffer zone: 213,481 ha
Ref: 933bis
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The Loire Valley is an outstanding cultural landscape of great beauty, containing historic towns and villages, great architectural monuments (the châteaux), and cultivated lands formed by many centuries of interaction between their population and the physical environment, primarily the river Loire itself.
The property of the Loire Valley between Sully-sur-Loire and Chalonnes is located in the regions of the Centre-Val-de-Loire and Pays-de-la-Loire. This cultural landscape covers a section of the Middle course of the 280km river, from Sully-sur-Loire, east of Orléans up to Chalonnes, west of Angers, including the minor and major beds of the river.
It is formed by many centuries of interaction between the river, the land that it irrigates and the populations established there throughout history.
The Loire has been a major communication and commercial axis since Gallo-Roman times up until the 19th century, thus encouraging the economic development of the valley and its towns. Witness to the many works destined to channel the river for navigation and the protection of humankind and the land against flooding, are the ports or dyke systems, sometimes in stonework, that punctuate the river.
The Loire has formed as much the rural landscapes, in the organization of the land and the types of culture (market gardening, vines), as the urban landscapes. Human settlements, isolated farms, villages and towns, translate both the physical characteristics of the different parts of the river and their historical evolution. The tufa and slate architecture, the troglodyte dwellings, the urban fabric, all reflect this. In the boundary of the property, the banks of the Loire are punctuated by villages and towns among which are Sully, Orléans, Blois, Amboise, Tours and Saumur.
The political and social history of France and Western Europe in the Middle Ages as well as during the Renaissance, the period when the Loire Valley was a seat of royal power, is illustrated by the buildings and castles that have made it famous, such as Chambord, Chenonceau, Amboise, Blois and Azay-le-Rideau. Benedictine abbeys first of all, then medieval fortresses, they were transformed during the Renaissance into country houses for recreation and pleasure, with gardens and vistas open to the countryside. The Loire Valley also contains a series of large, important Romanesque churches, witness to the expression of faith of the sovereigns and the people: Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, Fontevraud, Cunault, the ogival churches of Blois and Candes.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, the Loire Valley constituted a major cultural area for encounters and influences between the Italian Mediterranean, France and Flanders, and participated in the development of garden art and the emergence of interest in the landscape.
Criterion (i): The Loire Valley is noteworthy for the quality of its architectural heritage, in its historic towns such as Blois, Chinon, Orléans, Saumur and Tours, but in particular in its world-famous castles, such as the Château de Chambord.
Criterion (ii): The Loire Valley is an outstanding cultural landscape along a major river. It bears witness to an interchange of human values and to a harmonious development of interactions between humankind and their environment over two millennia.
Criterion (iv): The landscape of the Loire Valley, and more particularly its many cultural monuments, illustrate to an exceptional degree the ideals of the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment on western European thought and design.
Suggested Base:
Angers is a medium sized French city which is the capital of the Maine-et-Loire département in the northwestern region of Pays de la Loire. It offers the traveller a mixture of an typical French night-life, historically rich street-scapes and great shopping opportunities. Located in the French region which was known as Anjou in the Middle Ages, today Angers is a bustling French city, home to around 150,000 people in the city itself and roughly 270,000 people in the greater metropolitan area. It’s a place with great appeal to historians and travelers interested in discovering France’s rich medieval history. [read more]
Nantes (Breton: Naoned) is the capital of the north-western French region of Pays de la Loire. That said, Nantes has strong historical connections with the adjoining region of Brittany, and is the historical capital of the region (though not its official capital since the days of Napoleon). The tiny Canadian town of Nantes (Québec) near Lac-Mégantic is named after Nantes and is a twin town. Nantes was once an important port located 50 km up the Loire River. It grew rich on the triangular trade with Africa and the West Indies. Nantes is also famous for being the home of the science fiction writer Jules Verne. [read more]
Paris, the cosmopolitan capital of France, is one of the largest agglomerations in Europe, with 2.2 million people living in the dense (105 km²) central city, 7 million people in the Metropole du Grand Paris (814 km²) and almost 12 million people living in the metropolitan area. In the north of the country on the river Seine, Paris has the reputation of being the most beautiful and romantic of all cities, brimming with historic associations and remaining vastly influential in the realms of culture, art, fashion, food and design. Dubbed the City of Light (la Ville Lumière) and Capital of Fashion, it is home to some of the world’s finest and most luxurious fashion designers and cosmetics, such as Chanel, Christian Dior, Yves Saint-Laurent, Guerlain, Lancôme, L’Oréal, and Clarins. [read more]
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