The best MTB trails around Villemurlin

The road through the Natura 2000 area is closed. Fallen trees make it unsafe. August 2025

Impressive castle 🏰 with a mango-again construction site

Very beautiful castle

Very beautiful medieval castle. It is definitely worth visiting the inside.

Nestled in a meander of the Loire, the town of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire is home to one of the most beautiful jewels of Romanesque architecture: an 11th and 12th century basilica including the porch tower, decorated with twelve historic capitals. , the monumental portal and the nave constitute the most remarkable elements. Founded around 650 on the grounds of an ancient Gallo-Roman villa, Fleury Abbey has housed the relics of Saint Benedict, founder of Western monasticism and patron saint of Europe, since 672. During the 8th century, the patronage of the Prince of the Apostles was abandoned for that of Saint Benedict. This event is at the origin of the rapid expansion, prosperity and influence of the abbey which became Saint-Benoît de Fleury, while the village later became that of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. In the 9th century, after the ordeal of the Norman invasions which pillaged and destroyed the monastery, Fleury Abbey flourished again. The 10th and 11th centuries were the great era of Fleury's spiritual, intellectual and artistic influence. The construction of Fleury was probably completed in 1218. A few centuries later, the Hundred Years' War and the Wars of Religion ruined the monastery and disrupted regular life, the community's numbers collapsed. The French Revolution will end up dispersing the community of Fleury Abbey. But in 1944, a community of around forty monks resettled in the area and undertook the reconstruction of the monastery. A community of thirty-three monks lives there today under the direction of Father Abbot Etienne Ricaud. In 1947, the fourteenth centenary of the death of Saint Benedict led the abbey to be elevated to the status of a basilica. The visitor is invited to admire the fabulous historic capitals present in the porch tower, the nave and the choir; the magnificent paving which extends around the altar as well as the crypt where the relics of the patron saint rest. Not to be missed is the north portal and its monumental lintel carved in high relief.

We already find traces of a monastery in Fleury in the year 620. In 660, relics of Saint-Benoît were brought there and the abbey became Saint-Benoît de Fleury. Around the year 1000, the abbey experienced a golden age and the construction of the current basilica was launched. It will be consecrated in 1218. From the 16th to the 18th century, wars and the Revolution damaged the monastery. However, a community of 24 monks still lives there today.

This railway viaduct was built between 1877 and 1880. Since 2011, no rail traffic has used the bridge. Transformation work began in 2019 and, since May 2020, the bridge has been dedicated to bicycles and pedestrians. Thanks to the work, everyone can cross the Loire between Saint-Père-sur-Loire and Sully-sur-Loire in complete safety. Take your time to appreciate the magnificent views of the Château de Sully and the Loire!

At this location, during sanitation work in 1968, a certain number of ancient and medieval remains were unearthed, witnesses to the occupation of this site since Antiquity. Vienne-en-Val is also located on the Roman road from Orléans to Sancerre. The presence of two churches, one Merovingian and one dating from the 10th century, was revealed by surveys. The remains found, in particular sculpted blocks reused in these later constructions, attest that a sanctuary from the Early Roman Empire existed in the area but its location has not yet been discovered. You can discover these ancient blocks nearby, in a community hall which serves as a lapidary museum.