Encountering monuments and local history

In ancient times, Maine was home to one of the largest confederations of Gallic peoples, the Aulerques. They had established three of their capitals there: Le Mans, Jublains and Sées.

In the Middle Ages, the Upper-Maine became a border zone between the lands of the King of France (the Perche, Maine, Orléans, Île-de-France, etc.) and those of the King of England (Normandy, Aquitaine, Brittany, etc.). The feudal mounds, the ancestors of the castles, built of earth and wood, were then born.

During the Renaissance, a period of prosperity, manors and castles flourished in the countryside and in the towns.

• You will visit, in the company of its owner, a lovely manor house built between the 12^th and 16^th centuries.

 

• You will climb feudal mounds, one of which was transformed into a castle at the turn of the 11^th century, with the ruins of its vast keep.  

 

• You will wander through the streets of a small town fortified in the 12^th century, on the borders of the Continental Kingdom of England. 

 

• At the bend in the road, you will see the reconstruction (unique in France) of a Gallo-Roman temple from the 1^st century AD.

 

• You will admire a 13^th-14^th century Gothic cathedral, a miniature replica of the famous cathedral of Chartres.