Drome : Romans, Leoncel and Bouvante

Romans sur Isere was founded circa 838. Historic quarters, tanneries and leather work, carnival, pognes, ravioles, shoes, markets, Vercors and Hilly Drome are part of the treasures of this chearful and lively city. Right and left of river Isere, Romans and Bourg-de-Peage are linked by several bridges among wich the Pont-Neuf [1] and the Pont-Vieux [2] where stood in remote times a hospital for women in labour.

The romanesque and gothic Collegiate Church [3] was named after Barnard, bishop of Vienne (Isere). Six stained glasses showing the Apocalypse (they were damaged during WW II) have been rebuilt on the West facade of Saint-Barnard. The choir is decorated with fine 14th century wall paintings. In the Chapel of the Sacred Sacrament (14th and 15th centuries) can be seen the Tapestry of the Passion of Christ. From the Collegiate Church a 40 stations way [4] (21 downtown and 19 in the calvary) climbs up to the Calvary of the Recollets, on the road to Tain l'Hermitage. Built in 1518 and enlarged as years went by, it is nowadays a listed monument being restored.

The Jacquemart Tower [5] [6] overlapped the Porte de l'Aumone that allowed entrance through the first walls of the city. Two semicircular arches [7] still can be seen on the Tower. In 1422, the consuls decided that Romans should have a public clock with an automaton. It was inaugurated in 1429. Jacques Marteau - Jacquemart has often changed clothes : a peasant at the beginning, guard of the nation in 1789, Polish lancer under the Empire, troubadour during the Restoration, volunteer of 1792 at the fall of Charles X. He announces the hours and warns of mistral (cold wind) or rain according to the direction of winds that alter his ringing.

Romans historical center [8] is an invitation to wander through its paved narrow streets, its stairs and numerous fountains. Many private mansions (flamboyant gothic and Italian Rinascimento styles) and their yards were built in the 15th and 16th centuries by wealthy cloth manufacturers. In the area of La Presle can still be seen a few high houses [9] [10] with drying storeys, testimony of the labour of tanners, paper manufacturers and leather workers along the Savasse where skins and leather were put to soak... The International Shoes Museum, since 1971 in the former Couvent de la Visitation, has a unique collection of shoes of all centuries (over 10 000 specimens) and recent creations.

Romans - Vercors : after the Monts du Matin here is the Abbey of Leoncel [11] [12] nested in its glen where flows the Lyonne (Lionnae Cella : monastery upon the Lyonne) [13]. Little remains of one of the most remarkable romanesque churches of the Dauphine region, formerly a powerful Cistercian abbey founded in 1137 and completed in the early 13th century.

Way back to Romans through the Vercors [14] [15], Bouvante (since 1928, a hydroelectric plant [16] close to Saint-Jean en Royans works the waters of the artificial lake created by a dam on river Lyonne [17], and the exceptional caves of Choranche. [18]

More information :

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Photographies of the Drome department

Ferdinand Cheval, a Drome postman and his Palais Ideal
Pictures of Romans sur Isere, capital of shoes and leather, of the Dauphine region and part of the Vercors moutains

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