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Cormery

Tourism, holidays & weekends guide in the Indre-et-Loire

In the year 1523, the plague arrives at Cormery. 500 people and half of the monks died, judged by its gravity, thinking that it was half the population of the city. The plague ceased when the town hall required the inhabitants to keep their houses and quarters clean. A measure of hygiene that seems to us elementary, but for the inhabitants of the sixteenth century was a novelty as they are used to live in houses dark and wet and to go through streets filled with manure!

But neither the system of walls, moats, towers, or the three drawbridges prevent the Protestants from invading the place without having to fight and plunder the riches of all kinds: all-new organ pipes, sumptuous reliquaries, sacred vessels of great price.

But the abbey does not find its brightness. In 1741 there are only 10 religious.

But with this royal road came the obligation to lodge the soldiers when the regiments move. First housed at the inhabitant, the town hall before the claims of the inhabitants resolves to seek a collective housing. This is how the priory is transformed into a barracks and the inhabitants have only to worry about the expenses that make them officers and troop!

Geographical information

MunicipalityCormery
Postcode37320
Latitude47.2681270 (N 47° 16’ 5”)
Longitude0.8356789 (E 0° 50’ 8”)
AltitudeFrom 57m to 94m
Surface area6.07 km²
Population1826 inhabitants
Density300 inhabitants/km²
PrefectureTours (22 km, 25 min)
Insee code37083
IntercommunalityCC Loches Sud Touraine
DepartmentIndre-et-Loire
TerritoriesLoire Valley, Touraine
RegionCentre-Loire Valley

Nearest cities & towns

Truyes2.2 km (5 min)
Courçay4.5 km (7 min)
Tauxigny-Saint-Bauld6.4 km (8 min)
Esvres6.5 km (9 min)
Saint-Branchs7.5 km (9 min)
Athée-sur-Cher9.7 km (10 min)
Veigné9.8 km (13 min)
Cigogné9.8 km (14 min)
Azay-sur-Cher10.3 km (14 min)
Reignac-sur-Indre10.5 km (10 min)
Montbazon11.2 km (14 min)
Véretz12 km (14 min)
Saint-Martin-le-Beau13.2 km (17 min)
Azay-sur-Indre13.2 km (13 min)

Things to see and do

The remains of the abbey today:

The Saint-Paul tower, dating from the end of the 11th century, is one of the only Roman remains of the abbey church, dismantled from 1797. The western facade is characterized by a diamond decoration and two sculptural motifs of which the one still visible represents the entrance of Christ to Jerusalem. The eastern facade, with clogged bays, looked out on the nave borrowed today by the rue de l'abbaye. A spiral staircase leads to a magnificent hall with a beautiful sixteen-pane dome, whose two doubleaux fall on columns with finely carved capitals. Architectural links unite the tower of Saint-Paul with the other porches of Touraine: above, the belfry had two floors, and a clearly visible arrow. Following the collapse of the spire in 1891, resulting in a floor of the belfry and damaging the roof of the refectory, the belfry is now open. It sheltered five very well tuned bells, of which the last Christus "exiled" to Tours in 1807 in spite of the resistance of the population, is the biggest of the bell of the cathedral of towers: 1850 kg!

The chapel of the Virgin is actually the north apse chapel, dedicated to Saint-Symphorien. It is the only vestige of the Gothic part of the abbey church. Built between 1490 and 1517 by the abbot Jean du Puy to shelter its burial, it was spared dismantling during the revolution, because it was used to house the horses gendarmes. later, a nursery school settled there. What remains is to appreciate the radiant and flamboyant Gothic vault with its keys representing Saint Paul and the arms of the Puy family. A keystone keeps the memory of his arms, recalling his belonging to a family, one of whose distant ancestors had been the second grand master of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem.

The Gothic refectory Cormery occupies a place out of any use or exceptional. This superb, 100-foot-long, 13th-century room is comparable to the Mont-Saint-Michel guest room. The solid walls and stone of the frail cylindrical columns, combined with the lightness of the tufa vaults, allowed this architectural feat of extreme refinement. The vaults in ogives fall on beautiful columns thin and carved. On the west wall of the refectory was arranged the flesh for the reader during the meal of the monks, because according to Benedictine rule, "at the table of the brothers, reading should never be lacking". It forms a projecting balcony inside the refectory. This unusual location will be worth to receive the ruins of the spire and belfry during their landslide in 1891, without damage to the vaults. The very large granaries that are developing over the entire surface above the refectory are still in place although part of their roof was badly damaged as a result of the collapse of the top of the porch tower, and unfortunately repaired by a unique "funnel".

In the extension of the refectory, the old kitchen was rebuilt in the seventeenth century. The kitchens were later the dwelling of Mr. Boyer, hence the current name: "logis boyer". Paul Boyer, former friend of Tolstoy, grammarian and teacher of Russian at the School of Oriental Languages, bequeathed his home in 1949 to the city of Cormery.

Contiguous to the refectory, contemporary and of the same style, the door deserves all the attention of the visitor by its vaults covered with polychromy of origin, and finely cut end of lamps. This room, dating from the 13th century, is the building located next to the door of the abbey, where housed the porter.

The cloister extended perpendicular to the abbey church, forming a rectangle forty meters long and twenty-nine meters wide. Dating from the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, it was always covered with timber. At its location to the east, now passes a street from which one can see the facade of the chapter house. Elsewhere, it was walled up to house workshops. Its galleries, to the south and to the west, are still visible, though fragmented according to the successive owners. The south gallery has thirteen arcades, supported by columns dating from the thirteenth century. Most of the north wing, on the vaulted cellar, burned in the twentieth century, above was probably the infirmary, the library, the cells of the lay brothers and the home of the hosts. As for the east wing, it was at the end of the 17th century that a long vaulted room supported by nine pillars was erected slowly and at great expense, in the extension of the assembly formed by the chapter house and the treasure. But from this room and the dormitory of thirteen cells overlooking the flower garden, there are only pictures left. In the center was a well and a fountain.

The chapter (the chapter house, or treasure room) long transformed into a barn, has kept its entrance facade where very fine sculptures have reappeared during recent work. The magnificent arcades and their capitals, now walled, date back to the 13th century. Richly carved and decorated with three-lobed arches, the arches overlook a carved face. This sculpture represents a basilisk head with a body of clay, slaying a monk.

The abbatial dwelling dates from the 15th century. Straddling the perimeter wall, it overlooks the moat that was crossed by a drawbridge. You can still see the mullioned windows, a spiral staircase and a half-timbered panel. The house was accompanied by a terrace and a vast park. A large tithe barn sheltered the crops returning to the abbot: it was still in place in 1860. Outside the walls, there is still a tithe barn at a place called Monchenin, located in the town of Saint-Branchs, former property of the 'abbey.

Towards the end of the 15th century, fortifications, walls, moats and drawbridges surround the abbey, then the agglomeration. Still visible, they stand next to a solid, murderous tower leaning against the southern transept of the abbey church, called Tour Saint-Jean. This classic defense tower includes a cellar, a three-gun fire chamber and a heated guards room.

Places of interest

Monuments
Transport

Events and festivities

Weekly market every Thursday morning place mail.

Photos

Cloister of the abbey
Cloister of the abbey
See photo

Weather

Tuesday 19 march
Min. 7°C - Max. 17°C
Day
Night
Wednesday 20 march
Min. 8°C - Max. 19°C
Day
Night
Thursday 21 march
Min. 11°C - Max. 20°C
Day
Night

Visits, leisure and activities nearby

Leisure activities

Last nameActivity typeRateCity
Guided excursion on a retro scooter
Sports sensations125 € to 186 € La Ville-aux-Dames (14.1 km)
Excursion to the Langeais, Ussé, Azay-le-Rideau & Villandry Châteaux in a Minibus – Departing from Tours
Culture and education165 € Tours (17.4 km)
Minibus Excursion to the Châteaux de Azay-le-Rideau, Chenonceau, Amboise, Wine Cellar and Visit to the Villandry Gardens – Leaving from Tours
Culture and education173 € Tours (17.4 km)
Minibus Excursion to the Azay-le-Rideau, Chenonceau, and Chambord Châteaux and Visit to the Villandry Gardens – Leaving from Tours
Culture and education165 € Tours (17.4 km)
Discovery Day in a Minibus : Châteaux d'Amboise, Chenonceau, Chambord & Clos Lucé – Leaving from Tours
Culture and education173 € Tours (17.4 km)

Outings

Last nameOuting typeDifficultyDurationDeparture municipality
Dolus-le-Sec Wind Turbine
Village visitEasy30 minDolus-le-Sec (12.3 km)
Vines and heritage
HikeEasy1:45Vernou-sur-Brenne (17 km)
Amboise between the two waters
HikeEasy1:30Amboise (19.6 km)
Barn Vaugarni
HikeEasy2:00Pont-de-Ruan (19.7 km)
Hamlet of La Basse Chevrière
Village visitEasy3:00Saché (22 km)

Restaurants

Bed & breakfasts

Vacation rentals

Campsites

Hotels

Your holidays
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A campsite
A leisure activity
A restaurant
A rental car
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