The best walks and hikes around Juvigny-Sur-Loison

You can walk all the way around the ramparts. We found it unique and impressive. The museum was also interesting.

Magnificent citadel to visit absolutely!

Juvogny-sur-Loison was famous under the Ancien Régime under the name of Juvigny-les-Dames because of a Benedictine abbey founded in the 9th century by Richilde, wife of Charles the Bald. The relics of Saint Scholastica, venerated as the sister of Saint Benedict of Nursia, were placed there. Thirty-two abbesses succeeded one another at the head of this monastic abbey which prospered until 1792, when it was sold and fell into disuse. The Count of Vassinhac-Imécourt, owner of the magnificent castle of Louppy-sur-Loison (3 km) and nephew of the last abbess of Juvigny, restored part of the ruins and founded a religious boarding school for boys. Directed by the brothers of the Christian doctrine, this school enjoyed a certain reputation and had 223 boarders at the end of the 19th century. The building is now occupied by the Perce-Neige foundation. The former nursing home of the abbess which dates from 1624 is still visible on rue de l’Hôpital and gave its name to the street. Intended to care for the poor of the region, it is isolated from the convent buildings by a vast garden.

Juvigny has an impluvium washhouse, the basin is in the center and supplied with rainwater by an inward-sloping roof.

The Saint-Martin de Montmédy church is the church of the Saint-Martin parish in the upper town of Montmédy. The church we see today is not the first to be built on this location. Indeed, a sanctuary surrounded by a cemetery would have been present in the upper part of Montmédy as early as the 11th century. Its origins are rather vague, but historians are certain that from 1156 there was a religious building on the site of the current church2. This monument was quite small and had a single, quite slender tower. According to several old plans of Montmédy, researchers can confirm that it occupied approximately the location between the interior pillars of the current building3. In the 18th century, when Vauban strengthened the fortifications, the rear of the church was shortened to allow the widening of the adjacent rampart. The current church was built on the foundations of a more modest church that probably dates from the 12th century.

The Saint-Martin church in Montmédy is a majestic church which dominates the Montmédy citadel. You can admire its symmetrical facade with two square towers, its richly decorated altar with a half-canopy, and its statue of the Virgin and Child dating from the 14th century. You can also enjoy the sound of the restored organ, which dates from the late 17th century and had not been played for almost a century. The church is also a cultural space which hosts exhibitions, conferences and concerts. It is a mecca for hiking that will impress you with its beauty and charm.

A Montmédy washhouse dated 1853 a freestone construction

Built between 1753 and 1757, the Saint-Martin church dominates the ramparts of the citadel of Montmédy, renovated by Vauban. This stone building is located on the site of an ancient shrine of which only the chapel of Malandry remains. Bulky, ideal for the large military site it is next to. The classical architecture is specific to the churches of fortified towns, highlighting two imposing square bell towers, as well as a style of remarkable finesse that invites visits. The bronze bell cast in 1558 is one of fifty in the Meuse dating from before the Revolution. On the facade, the remains of the coat of arms of Albert de Meuldre, abbot of Orval, hammered during the Revolution, are a reminder that the church was largely financed by the powerful Cistercian abbey. Inside the nave there is always a canopy above the choir. You can also admire a 17th century painting of Flemish inspiration, depicting the adoration of the shepherds in Bethlehem, and a statue: Virgin and Child from the 14th century. The organ with specific technical details was restored by an association and inaugurated in October 2013. The instrument had not sounded for 97 years!