Attractions and Places To See around Orléans - Top 20

Continue straight ahead to get back on the road without carrying your bikes.

magnificent place for a bike ride, the natural landscape, soothing... I love it

Greenway along the Loire. Rolling track with tarmac, dirt, or white gravel covering depending on the section. Allows you to be away from traffic with little shared road.

A beautiful design - impressive and a great view!

Nice village to walk around

Located between Orléans and Chambord, in the Valley of the Kings, the Notre-Dame de Cléry Basilica has stood in the heart of the town of Cléry-Saint-André since the 15th century. After several constructions and demolitions, the current Basilica in flamboyant Gothic style was built during the 15th century, under Charles VII and Louis XI. The latter chose it as the place of his final rest. In 1280, the discovery of a statue of the Virgin was the beginning of what would become the Basilica of Cléry Saint-André. In a small chapel where the statue is installed, pilgrims flock to pray before the Virgin of Cléry, invested with miraculous powers. In 1302, Simon de Melun, Lord of the Hall in Cléry, founded a chapter of canons and at the same time, the collegiate church of Cléry. A few years later, Philippe Le Bel undertook the construction of a larger church. It was Philippe VI of Valois who laid the first stone of the building in 1339 while the pilgrimage grew. In the midst of the Hundred Years' War, the English ravaged the collegiate church, leaving only the bell tower as the only vestige. Dunois, Lord of Beaugency, initiated the reconstruction of the collegiate church in 1444. This reconstruction is the fruit of the desire of the kings of France to honor the statue of the Virgin Mary. From 1459, Louis Since 1894, it has had the title of Basilica. Raised on a Latin cross plan, the exterior is punctuated by a series of buttresses, flying buttresses and high windows whose regularity is only disturbed by the original bell tower and a few chapels. Even today, the Basilica welcomes many pilgrims who come to pay their respects to the famous statue. During your visit, discover the film “Basilica” broadcast continuously in the old sacristy. It reveals the inaccessible places of the building but above all, the great beauty of its architecture and the emotion it provides. All year round: guided tour for groups by reservation only.

Nestled in a meander of the Loire, the town of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire is home to one of the most beautiful jewels of Romanesque architecture: an 11th and 12th century basilica including the porch tower, decorated with twelve historic capitals. , the monumental portal and the nave constitute the most remarkable elements. Founded around 650 on the grounds of an ancient Gallo-Roman villa, Fleury Abbey has housed the relics of Saint Benedict, founder of Western monasticism and patron saint of Europe, since 672. During the 8th century, the patronage of the Prince of the Apostles was abandoned for that of Saint Benedict. This event is at the origin of the rapid expansion, prosperity and influence of the abbey which became Saint-Benoît de Fleury, while the village later became that of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. In the 9th century, after the ordeal of the Norman invasions which pillaged and destroyed the monastery, Fleury Abbey flourished again. The 10th and 11th centuries were the great era of Fleury's spiritual, intellectual and artistic influence. The construction of Fleury was probably completed in 1218. A few centuries later, the Hundred Years' War and the Wars of Religion ruined the monastery and disrupted regular life, the community's numbers collapsed. The French Revolution will end up dispersing the community of Fleury Abbey. But in 1944, a community of around forty monks resettled in the area and undertook the reconstruction of the monastery. A community of thirty-three monks lives there today under the direction of Father Abbot Etienne Ricaud. In 1947, the fourteenth centenary of the death of Saint Benedict led the abbey to be elevated to the status of a basilica. The visitor is invited to admire the fabulous historic capitals present in the porch tower, the nave and the choir; the magnificent paving which extends around the altar as well as the crypt where the relics of the patron saint rest. Not to be missed is the north portal and its monumental lintel carved in high relief.

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