Attractions and Places To See around Sainte-Magnance - Top 15

Located in the heart of the Morvan forest, the Abbey of La Pierre-qui-Vire was founded in the 19th century. It owes its name to an imposing granite block "in equilibrium," an emblem of the place. An almost suspended atmosphere reigns here.

The Abbey of Sainte-Marie-de-la-Pierre-qui-Vire is a Benedictine abbey founded in 1850 by Reverend Father Jean-Baptiste Muard. The community is located in the heart of nature, in a wild, wooded setting, on the banks of the Trinquelin, a small stream that flows between granite rocks. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbaye_Sainte-Marie_de_la_Pierre-qui-Vire

As in probably every other profession, there are a few so-called “black sheep” among the many honorable millers in the milling trade. The popular children's book author Otfried Preußler tells the following short episode in “The Flight into Egypt”: “And they didn't even get all the way to Klostergrätz that evening, but there was a mill on their way, the monastery mill - they stayed there until the next morning. At first the monastery miller was almost shocked when the k.k. Gendarmerie knocks on his door: There had been a certain dispute with a customer last week about a few sacks of milling material which had disappeared in the mill here in a completely inexplicable way […] but it could have been that he had been reported for it anyway – and now they’re coming to pick him up… then of course all the disputed milling sacks had immediately fallen from his mind, the monastery miller, just as [sergeant] Hawlitschek was now simply asking him for a place to stay for the night.”

A wonderful place that takes you back in time and is historically important.

Very beautiful medieval town on a hill overlooking the countryside.

Attractive village, friendly people

At the top of a hill that you will see taking shape when you arrive, requiring you to deviate from the main roads to enter the old town, Montreal has managed to retain a medieval atmosphere that strikes as soon as you pass through the first gate of the ramparts, called " Downstairs door". In the 13th century, the stronghold consisted of three enclosures pierced with pointed arch doors surmounted by towers. A first enclosure isolated the castle and the collegiate church from the rest of the top of the hill, where the garrison was certainly housed, itself sheltered by a second enclosure. The door that closed the access has disappeared but the base of a nearby watchtower is still visible. A third line of ramparts protected the town on the hillside. Beautiful old mansions, some with mullioned windows or embellished with colorful gardens, line the main street and some picturesque alleys. After a small climb, you can pass the second remaining historic gate called "Porte d'en haut" which opens access to the Collegiate Church, built in the 12th century and restored in the 19th century by the architect Viollet-le-Duc. The square adjoining the collegiate church is like a belvedere offering a panorama of the surrounding countryside. For the record, this Burgundian Montreal is part of "The association of Montreal of France and Europe" with 3 other perfect namesakes in Aude, Ardèche and Gers (I only had the opportunity to visit only the latter which is also a charming town), and also Montreal la Cluse (in Ain), Montreal Les Sources (Drôme) and even Monreal Eifel (in Germany).

Moulin Cadoux dates from the mid 1700s. Many of the mills in the Morvan have disappeared, but this one has been lovingly saved and restored.