The best traffic-free bike rides around Frétoy-Le-Château

Calvin's birthplace is dedicated to the famous reformer born here in 1509. Rebuilt after its destruction during the First World War, it now houses a museum retracing the life and work of John Calvin, as well as the religious and humanist history of his time. It houses a rich collection of portraits, ancient works, documents, and 16th-century furniture.

The sight of military cemeteries is always very sad, but we must not forget history.

The reconstruction of Notre-Dame, consecrated in 1928, was designed by Swiss architect Albert Montant—who also designed the church of Canny-sur-Matz. Albert Montant was an excellent connoisseur of medieval architecture, and the building, constructed of brick with some stone elements, contains numerous references to Romanesque architecture, revisited here with great originality and sensitivity. The plan features a bell tower porch, a single nave, and a choir with side aisles, culminating in an apse framed by two apsidioles. Each section has its own distinctive features. The bell tower porch—which echoes that of the previous church—opens with a semicircular arched portal with three arches resting, on each side, on as many small columns via cubic capitals. Three small, offset windows open above, and a gable crowns the whole. Instead of the traditional gallery, the bell tower porch forms, inside, a richly lit lantern crowned by a four-sided dominion vault. Of Carolingian origin, the lantern tower enjoyed great popularity in Anglo-Norman architecture and beyond, as evidenced by the one at Laon Cathedral. The nave has three bays with semicircular barrel vaults. Its two transverse arches are supported by abacuses surmounting consoles, a device intended to house statues, now missing. The choir is covered with a barrel vault that closes in a cul-de-four at the apse. Eleven small semicircular windows penetrate this vault, the base of which is highlighted by a continuous cordon of billets. Three semicircular arches resting on circular piers provide access to the side aisles, each covered with a semicircular barrel vault. This entire ensemble clearly draws its inspiration from the Romanesque architecture of Berry and Auvergne. In the nave, we notice six stained-glass windows by Blanchet-Lesage (1959) on the themes of Faith, Charity, Hope, Prudence, Justice, and Strength (2008).

This impressive cemetery was built in 1920-1921 on a site that was heavily contested during the First World War. It contains the remains of 1,258 French soldiers, 547 of whom are buried in two ossuaries. One French soldier from the Second World War is also buried here. Adjacent is a German military cemetery with the remains of 1,095 soldiers, 388 of whom are buried in collective graves, together with four British and two French soldiers. The necropolis is located in a region where the German advance towards Paris passed through in 1914, and where fierce fighting took place in 1918 during the Battle of Matz. Today it is a serene place of remembrance and reconciliation, in the middle of a landscape that was once the scene of devastating battles.

The Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Noyon is an impressive Gothic building in the heart of Noyon, in the Oise department. Built between 1145 and 1235, the cathedral is a major religious and cultural monument. It exemplifies the transition from Romanesque to Gothic architecture. The cathedral is 103.11 meters long (exterior) and 91.33 meters (interior), with a nave height of 22.73 meters. The interior is richly decorated with works of art and features a magnificent Merklin organ from 1898. The cathedral also has a Louis XVI-style high altar.

"God loves every soul with an undying love. He approaches each one with repeated, unspeakably patient offers of redemption. Even a small sign of love is enough for him to forgive and redeem. Our dear departed ones lacked a life preserver for the body; but the spiritual life preserver was not lacking, the breath of God in which the soul can clothe itself in a tiny moment, much more quickly than the body could." (Text by Albino Luciani / Pope John Paul I)

Nice rest and picnic area

The British cemetery of Seraucourt was created from 1920 to 1926, where the remains of soldiers buried in graves located on the nearby battlefield were grouped together, most of them killed in 1918. The cemetery contains 1,378 bodies including: 1 371 British, 5 Canadians and 2 Australians. Among them are around twenty airmen shot down in 1944. Only 496 bodies have been identified.