Top 10 Historic Sites in Vendee, Pays de la Loire

Discover the largest site of the Marais Poitevin and cathedral builders in the heart of exceptional remains! Fortress, cathedral and abbey, the Benedictine Abbey St Pierre founded 1000 years ago by the powerful Duke of Aquitaine William the Great, bore the marks of the history of art.Overlooking the marsh's canals dug by the monks, the cloister, the underground reserves and the church emerge from the soil in an original dynamic recovery.

Temporarily Closed An architectural jewel of exceptional quality, highlighted by a single restauration, opens its doors for a visit between reality and virtuality. Founded in 1068, the abbey was under the protection of the dukes of Aquitaine and became Royal Abbey in 1141 by Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen of France.The abbey is one of the few monastic complexes intact with its three elements: the church, the convent buildings, and the romanesque cloister entirely preserved.

Be charmed by the sweetness of life in the late 18h century in a typical residence of west-France countryside. Immerse yourself in the rustic and delicate furnished rooms that seem still inhabited ...The French garden offers fresh perspectives on the park's, its labyrinth and its timber.Site of the arrest of General Charette in 1796, the Chabotterie marks the end of the War in the Vendée. Permanent show on this period.

Preservation Association of the Remains of the Atlantic Wall. Visit of the bunker of command and direction of shooting of the encoded battery "Tirpitz". Free visit. Registration required via our website.

The castle was built for Nicolas Rapin in the late sixteenth century. The facade decorated with terracotta muses from the eighteenth century and the porch, illustrate the influences of the Poitevin nobility in the sixteenth up to the eitghteenth century. The lobby, with its many art objects: miniature, keys, weapons, eighteenth clothing, pottery ... and a magnificent sedan chair of the eighteenth. Then the eighteenth furniture and paintings by few well known masters. The large living room is dominated by a fireplace designed by Philibert Delorme, the carved and gilded wooden pediment was realized for the first of Moliere's Bourgeois Gentilhomme before Louis XIV in Chambord. The small living room is decorated with beautiful oak woodwork Louis XVI garlands. The dining room is under the aegis of Francis I, with two doors from Chambord opening onto a huge fireplace. Georges Simenon lived here between 1941 and 1943 and received his friends Jean Tissier and painter Maurice de Vlaminck.