Discovery Route in 21 Stages of La Châtre

This town house was built by Bargat at the end of the 18th century for the Marquis Etienne Philippe de Villaines, leader of the King's bodyguard, army and camps marshal in 1790. Acquired by the Town Council in 1807, it housed the college of La Châtre until 1954. Since then it has become the local library with over 30,000 volumes and the George Sand's museum.

In 1877, in homage to George Sand (1804-1876), the Town Council decided to erect a statue in a public garden named after the writer. The statue was conceived in Carrara marble by Aimé Millet and, during a grand celebration on 10th August 1884, was unveiled in the presence of Ferdinand de Lesseps (creator of the Suez Canal who lived in the region), Maurice Sand (son of George Sand), Paul Meurice (friend of Victor Hugo and George Sand). In 1890, two sequoias were planted in her honour. Thus, the town paid tribute to the authoress who once said : I have described La Châtre, and have been critical because deep down I love it.

In 1838 the Town Hall was etablished in the choir of the Carmes Convent, built at the end of the 14th century to recognise the Camelite friars for their dedication during the plague which hit the town in 1348. Some remnants still remain : the Chapel of Our Lady of Mercy (present foyer of the theatre) as well as the gothic arched door at the entrance of the Maurice Sand theatre. *Carmes - Carmelite friars

In 1798, outbuildings of the Carmes Convent were converted into an auditorium at the initiation of local amateur actors. Maurice Dupin, the father of George Sand, performed there. In 1809, because of disrepair, it was decided that the theatre would bemoved into the convent church, its present location. Its most glorious period was between 1830-1850 when George Sand attended numerous performances, and some of her own plays, such as Claudie, were staged. In 1904, the Comedie-Française came to perform François le Champi for the 100th anniversary of the writer's birth. In c.1935 the hall was first modernised following the development of the cinema and in 1994 it was fully restored to a manificent Italian theatre seating 200. It is named after the son of George Sand, Maurice, theatre producer and puppeteer.

This tall house, embellished with stone moulded windows, was the property of the Captain Louis d'Ars, master of arms of the renowned Knight Bayard whom he dubbed himself. He was also the owner o the Chateau d'Ars, two kilometres north of La Châtre. The house, purchassed in 1638 by boarders of the Carmes Convent, sheltered Ursuline nuns in 1855, Dominican Sisters in 1869, and subsequently it became the girls' college.

Formerly called Place du Pavé, this old small square is named after Laisnel de la Salle (1801-1871), deputy mayor of La Châtre, author of Beliefs and Legends in the centre of France, and a friend of George Sand. Observe the timbered house, an old residence of La Châtre, dating back to the 15th century. It was built by a rich family of merchants and displays splendid half-timbering and a magnificent ancient studded door with sculpted ogee. The red hue dates from its restoration in the 19th century. In her novel André, the heroine, a florist named Geneviève, lives in this red house. "Before leaving a little winding and deserted street, he showed her an old brick house, whose frames were coarsely sculpted in wood. An extended roof shaded the narrow windows."

The present church is located on an historic site in the heart of this once fortified city. The original was probably built in the 11th century. In 1152, a fire broke out and another church was erected, with a nave 30 metres in length. The bell tower was not added until the 14th century. Subsequent to a gift in 1895, it was reconstructed, but as the foundations had not been calculated, it collapsed in the following year, taking the nave with it. The inhabitants generously participated in the reconstruction of a new church which was consecrated on 16th of October 1904. A 15th pietà, the provenance of Carmes Convent, can be seen in the interior.

Parvis St Germain street.

Henri de Latouche, journalist, legal reporter, poet, author and founder of the newspaper "Le Figaro", lived in this house. A man of letters, he championed a number of authors such as André Chénier, Honoré de Balzac and George Sand. He died in 1851 and a stele, made of granite from Crevant, pays tribute to him in the gardens of the Town Hall. Between 1857 et 1872 this property became the "sous-préfecture" of La Châtre and today it houses the presbytery.

George Sand found refuge in this house during the separation from her husband Baron Casimir Dudevant in 1836. On 25th May, she wrote to her friend Marie d’Agoult: “a garden full of roses, four fathoms square, and a spacious terrace large enough to take ten steps, serve me as drawing room, as study… I am writing a new chapter for Léila”.

Here stood the castle built in c.1424, residence of the Chauvigny family, seigneurs of La Châtre. There only remains the keep which is 20 metres high and whose walls, cut with arrow-slits, are 2 metres thick. The tower was used as a prison from 1734 until 1937, when the building was acquired by Jean Despruneaux to house his collection of souvenirs of George Sand and her friends. In 1939, the ornithological collection of the municipal museum was moved here, and in 1954, for the 150th anniversary of her birth, it was renamed the George Sand and Black Valley Museum. In 1966 it was donated to the town of La Châtre by Jean Despruneaux.

The bridge takes its distorted name from the Escabignat family, rich burghers who made a donation towards the development of the bridge. On either side, wooden houses can be seen, former tanneries with drying areas extending over the river Indre. The proximity of water made it possible to soak the hides which, after numerous stages, were put in attics to dry. The ise of the leather indsutry in the region developed significantly, and in 1811, there were 18 tanneries in La Châtre, the greatest concentration of this trade in the region. They closed, along with numerous mills along the river, one after another at the end of the 19th century.

Long ago, the Grand'Font was delicated to Our Lady but popular belief later shifted to the worship of Sainte-Radegonde (521-587). Documented in the archives as early as the 15th century, this miraculous source initially spouted directly from the rock before being rebuilt on its present site during the Second Empire. Pregnant women used to have candles lit here for a successful delivery.

This picturesque quarter is the oldest working district in the town. It takes its name from the little wall on which children used to play. It was here in 1943 that the three underground resistance movements - "Combat", "Libération" and "Franc-Tireur" amalgamated under the initials M.U.R (United Movements of Resistance) and worked secretly in the shadows until the intervention of the Gestapo in 1944. The independent district of the P'tit Mur was created in 1978 by a group of friends, and a climbing vine of freedom has been maintained ever since.

This medieval bridge with two arches is a listed building located on the site of a former Roman Road. Its etymology and orthography remain obscure: Pontaulais, Pont au legs, Pont aux laies. Legend has it that some wild sows (laies) attempted to enter the town by this bridge during a year of drought.

This old residence was occupied at the beginning of the 19th century by François Ajasson de Grandsagne, mayor of La Châtre during the Bonaparte Consulate. His son Stéphane taught biology to the young Aurore Dupin (later George Sand). He is also said to have been her lover.

This pretty square owes its name to a plot of land which used to belong to the Abbaye de Prébenoist en Marche. Behold the beautiful panoramic view of the Indre Valley and the slopes of the Rochaille. George Sand enjoyed strolling in this then wild sot with her botanist friend, Jules Néraud (known as "le Malgache" after a journey to Madagascar)

In olden times, on their way to Santiago de Compostela, numerous pilgrims used to go through a fortified gate in this square. Only the statue of Notre Dame survives and it was moved to the façade of the hotel which bears its name. Today, his statue, its column and the porch roof above it, are listed.

This square is named after Dr.Vergne, renowned for his cataract operations. L'Escargot, formerly known as La Teste Noire and ornamented with a statue of Saint-Blaise, used the provide a stage for the relay of post and horses in the 18th century. It provided sanctuary for the amorous encounters between Maurice Dupin and Marie-Sophie Victoire Delaborde, the parents of George Sand. The large residence at No.2 of the square, has a stone well in gothic style. As a young girl, Aurore Dupin (later George Sand) used to come to this house with her grand-mother to visit Dr.Decerfz, and later, in a shirt story entitled Pauline, she described the interior in detail.

During the 14th century plague, this square was used as a burial ground. It later became a fairground, until 1850, when the Law Courts were built. The former Hôtel-Dieu de la Trinité (Hospital of the Trinity) was located between numbers 4 and 12 of the rue Duguet. In 1921 the Town Council decided to erect a monument in remembrance of the numerous dead of the first world war. Its creation was entrusted to the Berrichon* sculptor Ernest Nivet, a student of Rodin. Unveiled on the 18th November 1923, the memorial represents a weeping Berrichonne* who stands near a death lantern, symbolising the anguish of widows and mothers of soldiers. * "Berrichon(ne)" a native of the Berry region

From the 15th century this was the main square of the town, and some early mansions testify to this golden age which witnessed the birth of industrial and commercial development in La Châtre. The 15th century half-timbered house in the rue du Marché, became, by the 19th century, the residence of Sylvain Chicot, where George Sand used to buy candles, wax and tobacco. La maison pointue (sharp-pointed house), which also dates back to the 15th century, bestows a medieval character on the little street where it stands. Jules Sandeau (writer and lover of George Sand) lived on this square between 1818 and 1832 and his surname inspired her nom de plume.