- Stage town for the 4th time
- Prefecture of Nièvre (58)
- Population: 33,200 (Neversois and Neversoises)
Ideally placed on the diagonal route of “the race to the sun”, Nièvre’s prefecture is one of the towns most frequented by Paris-Nice. Coming early on in the race, it’s tended to favour sprinters, including Mario Cipollini (1992-93), Tom Steels (1998), Jaan Kirsipuu (1999-2000) and Gert Steegmans on the last bunch finish in 2008. However, last spring, a team time trial run between the motor-racing circuit and the town was won by the Visma | Lease a Bike line-up that featured Matteo Jorgenson, who went on to win the race. The Tour hasn’t been here since 2003, when Alessandro Petacchi won the bunch sprint.
Circuit de Nevers-Magny-Cours
Creation : 1959
History : created in 1959 by Jean Bernigaud, mayor of Magny-Cours, the first circuit was a karting track. The Jean-Behra circuit was inaugurated in 1961. In 1986, under the impetus of François Mitterrand, the Nièvre departmental council bought the 3,850-m circuit from the Bernigaud family. Completed in 1988, the circuit received its homologation in 1989, then in 1990 a five-year lease to host the French Formula 1 Grand Prix. The first French F1 Grand Prix took place on 7 July 1991: Nigel Mansell won ahead of Alain Prost.
In 1991 and 1992, the circuit hosted a round of the World Sports Car Championship. From 2000 to 2014, the Bol d’Or was held there. In 2003, slightly modified, the circuit hosted the French round of the Superbike World Championship. The circuit ran into financial difficulties from 2005, and the French F1 Grand Prix disappeared from 2009 to 2018, when it was held again, but at Circuit Paul Ricard. Since the disappearance of the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours, the circuit has undertaken numerous changes. The extension of the A77 motorway in October 2010 now provides direct access to the circuit, which returned to profit in 2011. In 2014, major modernization work on the main building began (pit boxes, suites and VIP areas).
Characteristics : today 4,411 m long, the Magny-Cours circuit incorporates corners existing on other Formula 1 circuits, making it a very technical and very complete track. The track features around thirty meters of elevation change, with a downhill section after the start line through the long curve to the Estoril dip, followed by a long climb up to the Adelaide hairpin, a plateau to Château d’Eau, then a descent to the Lycée section that leads back to the start. Throughout the year the track hosts various sporting events, tests by major French or foreign teams, prestigious clubs and driving courses.
The circuit and cycling : the Magny-Cours circuit has hosted Paris–Nice twice, in 2014 for a bunch sprint won by John Degenkolb, and for the start of stage three of the 2025 edition, a team time trial dominated by the Visma-Lease a bike team.
Palais ducal
Construction : 15th and 16th centuries.
Style : Renaissance.
History : considered the first of the Loire châteaux, built on the hill overlooking the center of the old town, the Palais ducal dominates Place de la République with its wide Renaissance façade framed by polygonal turrets. It was the residence of the counts and then the dukes of Nivernais. It was built for Jean de Clamecy, count of Nevers, on the site of his former fortress. The two large towers are the oldest parts, as the château was altered in the 16th century by the House of Cleves. Madame de Cossé-Brissac, heiress of the last Duke of Nevers, sold the château and its outbuildings to the city and the department in 1810. The building was then shared between the town hall and the courthouse until 1850. At the end of the 1970s, the City, keen to reclaim one of Nevers’ finest historic monuments, proposed moving the courthouse to the former episcopal palace. A new restoration was launched, retaining the 19th-century layout but adding a monumental staircase and a new side entrance.
Current destination : restored on the orders of Pierre Bérégovoy in the 1980s, the palace today houses the city hall (including the mayor’s office and council chamber), part of the tourist office, exhibition and reception rooms, as well as a permanent exhibition on the history and assets of the city (Formula 1, faience, etc.) and an aquarium of Loire fish.
Note : on 4 May 1993, in front of the Palais ducal, President François Mitterrand delivered the funeral eulogy for Pierre Bérégovoy, who had taken his own life on 1 May, a speech remembered for one sentence: “Toutes les explications du monde ne justifieront pas qu’on ait pu livrer aux chiens l'honneur d’un homme.”
Listing : listed as a Monument historique in 1840.
Faïence de Nevers
Nevers owes its famous faience industry to Louis IV of Nevers. Toward the end of the 16th century, he brought from Italy Augustin Conrad, a potter from Albissola near Savona, and his brothers, Baptiste and Dominique, whom he installed at the Château du Marais in Gimouille. Their reputation and success became such that in the 17th century Nevers established itself as the French capital of faience. Augustin Conrad chose Nevers to set up in France because all the elements were in place to make quality faience: the two types of clay required, wood that burns hot without flames (from the Morvan forests), and the Loire for the secure transport of his products. In the 21st century, a few faience workshops continue and renew this activity.
The distinctive feature of Nevers faience is the famous “Bleu de Nevers,” a color obtained by a cobalt-blue enamel bath. Many faience makers also sign their creations by drawing a small “nœud vert” (green knot).
Musée de la Faïence et des Beaux-Arts
Creation : 1840
History : created at the town hall, the museum moved in the 1910s to the former episcopal palace, acquired and donated to the city by a patron, Frédéric Blandin. In 1975, it was set up on the site of the former Benedictine abbey of Notre-Dame and in a private mansion, the Maison Roussignhol, dating from the 19th century. These premises were renovated from 2007 to 2013 and complemented by a contemporary extension. Once the work was completed, the museum was inaugurated on 27 September 2013.
Characteristics : since then the museum has comprised 13 permanent exhibition rooms and one temporary exhibition room, extending over 2,100 m² of medieval remains, rehabilitated spaces and new constructions. An architectural choice combines stone and wood, a contemporary building and ancient structures.
Cathédrale Saint-Cyr-et-Sainte-Julitte
Construction : 10th to 16th century.
Style : Romanesque and Gothic.
History : Cyrus (Cyr) and Julitta were martyred around the year 304, during the persecutions ordered by the Roman emperor Diocletian. Jerome, bishop of Nevers from 800 to 816, brought relics of the two saints to Nevers in the 9th century. At the beginning of the 13th century, the cathedral consisted of a timber-roofed nave, a transept and a choir. Two towers flanked the eastern façades to the north and south. After a fire in 1211, Bishop Guillaume de Saint-Lazare rebuilt it in the “new” Gothic style. The cathedral then had a three-storey elevation. The Romanesque choir and transept, less affected by the fire, were preserved. Reconstruction after another fire in 1308 was rapid, since in 1331 Pierre La Palud, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, consecrated the building, now in the Rayonnant Gothic style. Numerous restorations followed up to the present day (notably after the Second World War, when the cathedral was hit by mistake and all the stained glass had to be rebuilt). The 18 side chapels have been under restoration since 2021.
Characteristics : the total length of the building is 101 m. The Romanesque choir (11th century), known as that of Saint Julitta, is vaulted with a cul-de-four. It houses an exceptional fresco depicting Christ in Majesty, surrounded by the symbols of the Evangelists and the Elders of the Apocalypse.
The little story : the bishop of Nevers, Jerome, is said to have brought the relics of Saint Cyr to Nevers following a dream of Charlemagne, in which the saint saved the emperor from the charge of a furious boar.
Distinctive features : the stained glass destroyed in 1944 was rebuilt over the course of the 20th century by contemporary artists as renowned as Claude Viallat, Jean-Michel Alberola, Raoul Ubac, François Rouan and Gottfried Honegger.
Listing : Monument historique since 1862.
Espace Bernadette-Soubirous
This is a pilgrimage site dedicated to Saint Bernadette, famous for her visions of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes, who died in Nevers in 1879. She spent the last years of her life at the convent of the Sisters of Charity of Nevers, installed in a former 12th-century priory. Today it is both a spiritual center and a place of retreat, as well as a venue for exchanges and encounters. Bernadette rests in the Saint-Joseph chapel, located in the heart of the gardens of the site.
Église Saint-Étienne de Nevers
Construction : 11th century.
Style : Romanesque.
History : the Church of Saint-Étienne in Nevers is one of the most beautiful and best-preserved Romanesque churches in France. The building was consecrated in 1097 by Bishop Yves of Chartres. Its architecture fully reflects the movement of the late 11th century and recalls other masterpieces of Romanesque art such as Saint-Sernin of Toulouse; the choir was built in the spirit of the great abbey of Cluny; and the elevation is on three levels as at Jumièges or the Basilica of Saint-Remi in Reims. The church suffered from fashions, conflicts and the vicissitudes of time. Deconsecrated during the Revolution, it was turned into a barn: its three Romanesque bell towers and the narthex were destroyed in 1792. In 1846, aware that Nevers possessed an exceptional Romanesque monument, the city launched major works. Despite these restorations, it is one of the rare 11th-century monuments to have come down to us without major alteration of its original purity.
Characteristics : seen from the outside, the building presents a massive, imposing aspect, a kind of religious fortress built of carefully dressed ashlar with window openings of bare, unadorned contours. The Church of Saint-Étienne provides an exemplary illustration of two phenomena: on the one hand, the interaction between different regions of Romanesque France and, on the other, the importance of Burgundy as a crossroads and “inventor” of architectural and plastic solutions.
Listing : Monument historique since 1840.
