Brie cheese and battlefields

A discovery tour around the Brie de Meaux AOP is waiting for you.Reconstructions and dramatizations will help you learn more about the history of this famous cheese. You'll discover the different stages in its production, from milk harvesting to cellar maturing. Then you'll learn about the current challenges facing Brie de Meaux PDO, proudly represented by its Confrérie. Brie and local events are on offer all year round! Workshops, tastings, exhibitions - there's something for everyone! Booklets in English, Dutch, German, Spanish and Italian are available free of charge to accompany your visit to the Maison du Brie de Meaux. To round off your visit, we offer guided tastings on Saturdays and Sundays at 11am and 4pm, with online booking.

Discover the Saint-Faron cheese dairy, producer and ripener of Brie de Meaux and Brie de Melun.The Saint-Faron cheese dairy, small enterprise of 10 persons, located in the city of Meaux, perpetuates the values of Ile-de-France territory. It takes its “Saint Faron” name from one of the city’s bishop of the seventh century. Rewarded in 2017 with the prestigious Excellence Award at the General Agricultural Competition in Paris, this cheese dairy preserves ancestral techniques of brie production. Come discover the Brie de Meaux “Terre de Meaux,” the only Brie de Meaux produced and matured in the city: raw milk selected from 12 local producers, two-steps hand casting with a slicer, and a ripening of at least 7 weeks. Come and visit the cheese dairy! The Saint-Faron cheese dairy opens its doors for you to discover the secrets of production and maturation of Brie de Meaux and Brie de Melun. Take advantage of a guided tour of the cheese dairy to enjoy a tasting at the end of the tour.

On the night of 5 to 6 September 1914, the Germans retreated from the positions they had occupied the previous day and entrenched themselves in Chambry, where they captured the cemetery.They cut loopholes in its thick walls to try and repel, in vain, the counter-attack of the French army. Early in the morning, the French officers sent the Moroccans to attack Chambry. At 10am, the Turcos attacked the cemetery, where the Germans were entrenched. The reports mention that the Moroccans captured the cemetery in the afternoon, but that, crushed by German cannon fire, they had to retreat almost immediately... On 7 September, it was the Zouaves who finally seized the village from the Germans at around 4pm, but they too paid a very heavy price in this attack. The Germans' loopholes, evidence of the fierce fighting in September 1914, are still clearly visible today.

On the road that connects the villages of Barcy and Varreddes, and in the immediate vicinity of the national necropolis in Chambry, a small cemetery houses the remains of German soldiers who fell during the 1914 Battle of the Marne.Built in 1924, this cemetery houses around 1030 bodies in a small area. This is because 998 of those soldiers (985 of whom are still unidentified) are buried in a mass grave. What's more, two to four German soldiers are buried under each of the crosses that line the cemetery. Military cemeteries are national territories. In the aftermath of the Great War, it was therefore important not to give up too much territory to the Germans.

Built in 1920, this necropolis gathers together in one place the individual tombs dug right on the battlegrounds of the Meaux region in the aftermath of the First Battle of the Marne.Nearly 990 soldiers killed in 1914 are buried together here. 940 of them are still unknown. They have been buried together in 4 ossuaries. Half of the 341 individual graves are those of French soldiers killed between June and July 1918 during the Second Battle of the Marne in the north of the Seine-et-Marne department. Most of the men buried in the ossuaries are soldiers and officers from infantry troops, Zouaves regiments, and Moroccan and Algerian infantry regiments involved in the First Battle of the Marne. Many of the soldiers from mainland France who took part in the the Battle of the Marne, such as the men from Charles Péguy's regiment, the 276th Infantry Regiment, came from that region. Those of them who could be identified were then generally buried in a civil grave, in their village cemetery.

This historical landmark was the theater of violent battles between 6 and 9 September 1914. This important position, which had been taken by German general Von Kluck – who had installed his general staff there – had to be reconquered.After the First Battle of the Marne, Monseigneur Marbeau, bishop of Meaux, expressed his wish that the town of Meaux be spared and decided to build a commemorative monument on the very spot where the German advance was halted. This religious and patriotic monument was inaugurated in 1924 and was the site of numerous pilgrimages to celebrate the "Miracle of the Marne". The granite and cast-iron building depicts the Virgin Mary with the inscription "Thou shalt go no further".

The Episcopal City, Jewel of the Heritage of Meaux.Come to Meaux and take a stroll through history, from the Cathedral to the Palace of Bishops, past the Old Chapterhouse and the magnificent Bossuet Garden -- it’s a fascinating pastime! In the Middle Ages, the Episcopal district of Meaux extended from the Cathedral to the ramparts or ancient city walls. As indicated by the name, the Episcopal district was reserved for the Bishop, the chapter of the cathedral canons and their lay or ecclesiastical entourage. The Episcopal city, in its present condition, remains largely unchanged since the 18th century. The variety of architectural styles, dating back to different historical periods, form a prominent part of the city’s architectural heritage. The Episcopal City of Meaux retained its religious function par excellence until the French Revolution, as an ecclesiastical city adjoining the lay city. In the 19th century, the Episcopal Palace of Meaux was disputed between the lay power and the Church. Finally, the Law of 1905, on the separation of Church and State, completed the transfer of this historical heritage into the hands of the State. Today and since 1927, the former palace of the bishops houses the Bossuet museum.