Attractions and Places To See around Sormery - Top 10

Nestled in a green setting, the Saint-Joseph des Anges chapel is a small, discreet building with sober architecture.

Built between 1864 and 1891, this immense chapel topped with a colossal statue of the Holy Virgin can be seen from afar. To the left of the tower, more modest, a pretty Calvary is also visible. Father Cardot, the priest of the village of Villeneuve-au-Chemin, was the initiator and mastermind of this pharaonic project. His grave is located behind the Calvary.

Located between the forest massifs of Chaourçois and the Othe forest, Ervy-le-Châtel has many charms. The village takes its name from the local lord who ruled this stronghold until the 9th century: the Ervy family. The Armance flows at the foot of the town. There is also a feudal mound nearby. These are probably the ruins of the original castle.

See also the Porte St Nicolas 15 century

On June 20, 1944, the maquis of Saint-Mards-en-Othe in Aube was attacked by the enemy and 27 resistance fighters were killed. The maquis of Saint-Mards-en-Othe came from the BOA and specialized in receiving parachutes. The Sipo-SD of Troyes, well informed about the locations of the maquis and its forces by its French agents, prepared an operation against him. On June 20, 1944 in the morning, a German column of a thousand men, Ukrainian prisoners of war and Russian volunteers, forming the 615th Ostbataillon commanded by Major Schrade and the Sicherheitsregiment 199 of the SS Gelling went up to attack the maquis which was 237 guerrillas from the BOA and the FTPF. The maquis occupied a strong position, a hill with a large wood, meadows and fields all around the nipple. He had rifles, machine guns, machine guns, machine guns, grenades, nine bazookas and seventeen torpedoes. The fight will last from seven thirty in the morning to six in the evening. The first German elements arrived by the road from Maraye-en-Othe, surprising six maquisards who were posted as sentries and killing four. Another detachment from La Belle Fayte killed six guerrillas, including the Englishman George Mamoutoff, known as Léon, an SAS lieutenant who was killed on his Bren machine gun to cover the withdrawal. Around eight-thirty, a second motorized column coming by the road from Vosnon was greeted by heavy fire but the fight quickly became unequal, the maquisards being outnumbered. The order to withdraw was given. When the fight was over 27 resisters had been killed or wounded and finished off. A monument was erected on the Mivoie road to commemorate the attack of June 20, 1944 and was inaugurated on June 22, 1947. Surmounted by a cross of Lorraine, it bears the following inscription: "To the dead of the Maquis de Saint -Mards-en-Othe / BOA and FTPF / June 20, 1944”. the hamlet of La Lisière des Bois was decorated on 16 June 1949 with the Croix de Guerre with bronze star.

The circular hall and the Chapel... SUPERB!

Saint Florentin is a pleasant little town that has been very well restored. The two fun and informative anecdotes to take away from the city are as follows: during the Revolution, Saint-Florentin was one of the most dynamic places of Theophilanthropy, a religion which succeeded the cult of reason and the supreme being between 1798 and 1801. During the convention, the anticlerical republicans renamed Saint-Florentin and called it Mont-Armance between 8 Germinal of Year Two (March 28, 1794) and 6 Ventôse of Year Three (February 24, 1795). The city is located on the edge of the Armance and the Burgundy Canal, but also the N77. Some ingenious minds wanted to take inspiration from the legendary American route 66 in the hope of attracting tourists, and now call it route 77.

The tower rises to 43 meters. The statue of the virgin crowning the tower is 7 meters high and weighs 8,500 kilos.