Notre-Dame Church – Medieval Village of Souvigny loop from Les Petits Govignons

Notre-Dame Church – Medieval Village of Souvigny loop from Les Petits Govignons

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Notre-Dame Church – Medieval Village of Souvigny loop from Les Petits Govignons

01:22

30.4km

230m

Road cycling

Easy road ride. Mostly well-paved surfaces and easy to ride.

Last updated: November 7, 2026

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10.9 km

Saint-Menoux and its débredinoire

Highlight • Other

In Bourbon dialect, a bredin means "a simpleton". The church of Saint-Menoux is known in the region because it houses a "débredinoire", a simple stone hole in a wall, which allows you to regain your sanity by sticking your head through it. Attention, the legend wants that the unfortunate one who bumps his head there recovers all the "bredinerie" left there by the predecessors!

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13.9 km

Notre-Dame Church

Highlight • Religious Site

Romanesque church with Burgundian, Auvergne and Berry influence.
Built at the end of the 12th century and the beginning of the 13th, the current building belongs to the transitional Romanesque style. Indeed, if it is Romanesque in its general plan, the ornamentation of its portals and its capitals, its narrow semi-circular openings, its elegant apse and its cul-de-four vaulted apsidioles, it is "timidly" Gothic through the vault of its nave. Furthermore, built at the crossroads of three dioceses, this construction was influenced by the Burgundian, Auvergne and Berry schools. The capitals are most interesting: intertwined foliage, heads of grimacing men and beasts, grotesque masks...
A statue of the Virgin with the bird in polychrome wood dates from the 17th century. It is remarkable for its state of preservation and its subject: Mary holding the child Jesus in her arms with a bird perched on his hand. This refers to the apocryphal gospel of the childhood of Jesus according to Thomas written in the 3rd century: Jesus as a child performs miracles such as giving life to clay birds.

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27.7 km

Medieval Village of Souvigny

Highlight • Settlement

A medieval village in Bourbonnais, a major Cluniac site and former necropolis of the Dukes of Bourbon, this is a must-see. Stop by the abbey church, visit the local artisan shop, Chez Aristide, and stroll through the narrow streets. Don't miss the medieval festival at the end of July!

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27.7 km

Priory of St. Peter and St. Paul, Souvigny

Highlight • Religious Site

Souvigny is a French commune located in the Allier department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Located in the heart of Bourbonnais, the city is the cradle of the Bourbon family, of which it was an important city of the lordship of Bourbon. It preserves an exceptional heritage linked to its affiliation with the powerful abbey of Cluny. In addition to the recumbent figures of the last Dukes of Bourbon, the priory church, the largest religious building in the Allier department, preserves the relics of several saints, including those of two abbots of Cluny who died in Souvigny: Mayeul, 4th abbot (died in 994), and Odilon his successor (died in 1049).

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27.7 km

Priory church and necropolis of the Dukes of Bourbon

Highlight • Religious Site

The town of Souvigny was chosen by the Bourbon dynasty as the religious capital of its duchy. Thus, the commune became the necropolis of all the Bourbon lords.

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