NEVERS
Nevers-Magny-Cours Circuit
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, at the instigation of François Mitterrand, the Nièvre General Council purchased the 3,850 m circuit from the Bernigaud family. Completed in 1988, the circuit was approved in 1989, then in 1990 it was granted a five-year lease to host the French Formula 1 Grand Prix. The first French F1 Grand Prix took place on 7 July 1991, with Nigel Mansell beating Alain Prost to take the win. In 1991 and 1992, the circuit hosted a round of the World Sportscar Championship. From 2000 to 2014, the Bol d'Or was organised there. In 2003, after undergoing slight modifications, the circuit hosted the French round of the Superbike World Championship. The circuit experienced financial problems from 2005 onwards and the French F1 Grand Prix disappeared from 2009 to 2018, when it was organised again, but at the Circuit Paul Ricard. Since the disappearance of the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours, the circuit has undergone many changes. The extension of the A77 motorway in October 2010 now provides direct access to the circuit, which returned to profitability in 2011. In 2014, major modernisation work was undertaken on the main building (pits, boxes and VIP areas).
Characteristics: Now 4,411 metres long, the Magny-Cours circuit incorporates corners found on other Formula 1 circuits, making it a highly technical and comprehensive track. The track has a height difference of around 30 metres, with a downhill section following the start line in the big curve to the Estoril bowl, followed by a long climb to the Adelaide hairpin, a plateau to Château d'eau, followed by a descent to the Lycée area, which leads back to the start. Throughout the year, the track hosts various sporting events, trials for major French and foreign teams, prestigious clubs and even driving courses.
The circuit and cycling: the Magny-Cours circuit has hosted Paris-Nice twice, in 2014 for a sprint finish won by John Degenkolb, and for the start of the third stage of the 2025 edition, a team time trial dominated by the Visma-Lease a bike team.
Ducal Palace
Construction: 15th and 16th centuries.
Style: Renaissance.
History: considered the first of the Loire châteaux, built on the hill overlooking the centre of the old town, the Ducal Palace 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 Nevers. It was built as a residence for Jean de Clamecy, Count of Nevers, on the site of his former fortress. The two large towers are the oldest parts of the building, as the castle was remodelled in the 16th century by the Clèves family. Madame de Cossé-Brissac, heiress to the last Duke of Nevers, sold the castle and its outbuildings to the town and the department in 1810. The building was then shared between the town hall and the court of justice until 1850. At the end of the 1970s, the town council, keen to reclaim one of Nevers' most beautiful historical monuments, proposed transferring the courthouse to the former bishop's palace. A new restoration project was launched, preserving the 19th-century layout but adding a monumental staircase and a new side entrance.
Current use: restored on the orders of mayor Pierre Bérégovoy in the 1980s, the palace now houses the town hall (including the mayor's office and council chamber), part of the tourist office, exhibition and reception rooms, and a permanent exhibition on the history and attractions of the town (Formula 1, earthenware, etc.) and an aquarium of fish from the Loire. It should be noted that on 4 May 1993, it was in front of the Ducal Palace that President François Mitterrand delivered the eulogy for Nevers mayor and French Prime Minister Pierre Bérégovoy, who had committed suicide on 1 May, a speech that remains famous for one sentence: "No explanation in the world can justify allowing the honour of a man to be thrown to the dogs."
Listed as: historic monument in 1840.
Nevers earthenware Nevers owes its famous earthenware industry to Louis IV of Nevers. Towards the end of the 16th century, he brought Augustin Conrad, a potter from Albissola, near Savona, and his brothers, Baptiste and Dominique, from Italy and settled them in the Château du Marais in Gimouille. Their reputation and success became such that Nevers established itself as the French capital of earthenware in the 17th century. Augustin Conrad chose Nevers as his base in France because it had everything he needed to produce high-quality earthenware: the two types of clay required, wood that burned without producing flames (in the forests of Morvan), and the Loire river for the safe transport of his products. In the 21st century, a few earthenware factories continue and renew this activity. The distinctive feature of Nevers earthenware is the famous "Bleu de Nevers", a colour obtained by dipping the pieces in cobalt blue enamel. Many earthenware makers also sign their creations by drawing a small "green bow".
Museum of Earthenware and Fine Arts
Established: 1840
History: created in the town hall, the museum moved in the 1910s to the former episcopal palace, acquired and donated to the town by a patron, Frédéric Blandin. In 1975, it moved to the site of the former Benedictine abbey of Notre-Dame and into a 19th-century mansion, the Maison Roussignhol. These premises were renovated between 2007 and 2013 and completed with a contemporary extension. Once the work was finished, the museum was inaugurated on 27 September 2013.
Characteristics: the museum now has 13 permanent exhibition rooms and a temporary exhibition room covering 2,100 m² of medieval remains, renovations and new buildings. The architectural design combines stone and wood, contemporary buildings and old structures.
Saint-Cyr-et-Sainte-Julitte Cathedral
Construction: 10th to 16th century.
Style: Romanesque and Gothic.
History: Cyr and Julitte were martyred around the year 304 during the persecutions ordered by Roman emperor Diocletian. Jerome, bishop of Nevers from 800 to 816, brought the relics of the two saints back to Nevers in the 9th century. At the beginning of the 13th century, the cathedral consisted of a timber-framed 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 three storeys. The Romanesque choir and transept, which were less affected by the fire, were preserved. Reconstruction after another fire in 1308 was rapid, and in 1331 Pierre La Palud, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, consecrated the building, now in the Rayonnant Gothic style. Numerous restorations have followed to the present day (notably after the Second World War, when the cathedral was hit by mistake and all the stained-glass windows had to be rebuilt). The 18 side chapels have been undergoing restoration since 2021.
Characteristics: the total length of the building is 101 metres. The Romanesque choir (11th century), known as Saint Julitte's choir, has a cul-de-four vault. It houses an exceptional fresco depicting Christ in glory, surrounded by the symbols of the evangelists and the elders of the Apocalypse.
Trivia: Jérôme, Bishop of Nevers, is said to have brought the relics of Saint Cyr to Nevers following a dream by Charlemagne, in which the saint saved the emperor from the charge of a furious boar.
Distinguishing features: the stained-glass windows destroyed in 1944 were rebuilt during the 20th century by renowned contemporary artists such as Claude Viallat, Jean-Michel Alberola, Raoul Ubac, François Rouan and Gottfried Honegger.
Listed as: historic monument since 1862.
Bernadette-Soubirous Area
This is a pilgrimage site dedicated to Saint Bernadette, famous for her visions of the Virgin Mary in Lourdes, who died in Nevers in 1879. She spent the last years of her life at the Convent of the Sisters of Charity in Nevers, housed in a former 12th-century priory. Today, it is both a spiritual centre and a place of retreat, as well as a venue for exchanges and meetings. Bernadette is buried in the Saint Joseph Chapel, located in the heart of the grounds.
Saint-Étienne Church in Nevers
Construction: 11th century.
Style: Romanesque.
History: Saint-Étienne Church in Nevers is one of the most beautiful and best-preserved Romanesque churches in France. The building was consecrated in 1097 by Bishop Yves de Chartres. Its architecture is fully in keeping with the late 11th-century style and is reminiscent of other Romanesque masterpieces such as Saint-Sernin in Toulouse. The choir was built in the spirit of the great abbey church of Cluny, and the elevation has three levels, as in Jumièges and the Basilica of Saint-Rémi in Reims. The church suffered from the fashions, conflicts and vicissitudes of the times. Decommissioned during the Revolution, it was converted into a barn: its three Romanesque bell towers and narthex were destroyed in 1792. In 1846, aware that Nevers possessed an exceptional Romanesque monument, the town council launched a major restoration project. Despite these restorations, it is one of the few 11th-century monuments that has survived without any major alteration to its original purity.
Characteristics: seen from the outside, the building has a massive, imposing appearance, like a religious fortress, built of carefully squared ashlar stones with bare-edged bays and silent . 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 hub and "inventor" of architectural and artistic solutions.
Listed as: Historic monument since 1840.
Cathédrale Saint-Vincent et cloître des Chanoines
Construction : 11th to 15th century.
Style : Romanesque and Gothic.
History : the construction of Saint-Vincent Cathedral spanned six centuries. The building blends Romanesque and Gothic. It began in 1090; from that period remain the north and south apsidal chapels. The 12th century brought the choir, the transept and the pillars and arcades of the nave and aisles. Romanesque was followed, in the 13th and 14th centuries, by Gothic elements: the choir apse, the nave walls and the cloister, and the vault over the transept crossing. Finally, in the 15th century, the nave vault and the aisle chapels were completed. In 1562, Huguenot fury devastated the church: statues were destroyed and the treasury removed. Over the next two centuries, changes in architectural taste led to the disappearance of certain Gothic elements (tombs, stalls and the rood screen). During the Revolution, the bishopric was abolished, the church was dedicated to the goddess Reason and used as a hay store. The 19th and 20th centuries focused on repairs. A neo-Gothic façade was completed around 1850, the roof was redone toward the end of the 19th century and its towers were restored in 1991.
Listing : Monument historique since 1903.
Ancien hôpital
Construction : 1530 (foundation) to 1854 (façade).
History : Chalon’s hospital was created in the 16th century (a building with arcaded galleries, remodeled in the 18th century). In the second half of the 20th century, modernization, humanization, demolitions and new construction transformed the establishment, which became the William-Morey Hospital Center. Begun in 2008, construction of the “New Chalonnais Hospital” to the north of the city led, in 2011, to the decommissioning of the building, which has since been the subject of various renovation projects.
Characteristics : laid out on Saint-Laurent Island, the hospital’s plan evolved considerably over the centuries. Its oldest part consists of several wings from different periods arranged around three courtyards and dominated by a lantern tower topped with a dome. Along the Saône quay stand the vast wing built in 1854 and the nuns’ residence dating from the 16th century, recognizable by its crow-stepped gable.
Listing : listed as a Monument historique in 1932.
Tour du Doyenné
Construction : 16th century.
History : in the Middle Ages it served as a staircase tower giving access to the floors of the dean of the canons’ house. In 1907 it was sold, dismantled and transported to Paris. After the First World War, a benefactor found it and donated it to the city, which re-erected it.
Listing : listed as a Monument historique in 1948.
Nicéphore Niépce
From a well-to-do Burgundian bourgeois family (his father was a lawyer and royal counselor), Joseph Niépce considered becoming a priest before giving up the idea in 1788. When the Revolution broke out, he joined the National Guard and adopted the surname Nicéphore. But by 1794, failing eyesight forced him to abandon a military career. He then settled in Nice. In 1801, the family returned to the Niépce property at Saint-Loup-de-Varennes, near Chalon-sur-Saône, to manage the family estate.
Passionate about physics and chemistry, Claude and Nicéphore together developed a new kind of engine, the Pyréolophore, a forerunner of the diesel, for which they obtained a ten-year patent. In his brother’s absence, Nicéphore undertook alone, in 1816, new research on a subject he had long held dear: fixing images. In May 1816, using a camera obscura loaded with paper coated with silver chloride, he obtained a negative of a view taken from a window. In 1822, he began experimenting with bitumen of Judea: a copper plate coated with this substance and exposed for eight hours in the camera obscura, then immersed in a solvent and etched by an acid in the areas devoid of bitumen, yielded a relief image. In 1827, by this process—which he called Heliography—after eight hours of exposure, Nicéphore obtained what constitutes the very first photograph: a view taken from a window of the attic of his house in Saint-Loup-de-Varennes.
He is also credited with :
– the first photographic camera obscura,
– the first sliding box camera,
– the first iris diaphragm (reinvented fifty years later),
– a camera fitted with a spool for winding the sensitized paper.
After meeting Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre, a scenic painter who used the camera obscura to sketch his dioramas, Niépce partnered with him in 1829 to perfect his “heliographic” achievements. But he died suddenly four years later of a cerebral hemorrhage, heavily in debt and without having succeeded in arousing interest in his invention. Daguerre, taking over his associate’s experiments, would succeed in developing (1835), then fixing (daguerreotype, 1838) photographic images, and would enjoy great fame in his lifetime. Nicéphore Niépce’s role in the invention of photography is, however, fully recognized today.
Statue de bronze Nicéphore Niépce
Installed on Place du Port-Villiers, it was created in 1885 by Eugène Guillaume, a sculptor who worked free of charge in honor of his subject.
Musée Nicéphore Niépce
The museum is housed in a former royal messenger inn (late 18th century). It is a U-shaped building facing the Saône, notable for its massive timber framing. Built around the various devices, heliographic plates and personal objects of Nicéphore Niépce, the collections have grown through successive donations and acquisitions of photographic equipment and other objects on the one hand, and photographs and other images on the other.
Hôtel de ville
Typical of the small private mansions with sculpted façades which, after belonging to wealthy merchants, were converted into dwellings. The Town Hall is housed in the former private mansion of a Chalon industrialist (late 19th, early 20th century) with a striking interior featuring coffered ceilings, mouldings, and more.
Chalon dans la rue
An annual street-arts festival created in 1987 that welcomes over 200,000 spectators over five days at the end of July, making it one of the most important street-arts festivals organized in France. A key reference for creation in public space, the Chalon dans la rue festival reflects the current state of the street-arts scene. Each year, nearly 180 French and international companies take over Chalon-sur-Saône. Established troupes mingle with the youngest, street arts with digital arts, and live performance with interdisciplinary happenings.
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