From Suize to Aujon

Depart from the town of Rolampont, latitude 47.9507633 (N 47° 57’ 3”), longitude 5.2841967 (E 5° 17’ 3”)

• The canal between Champagne and Burgundy

• The canal between Champagne and Burgundy (from the Marne to the Saône) is like the backbone of Haute-Marne. Its realization began in 1862, after a study undertaken between 1839 and 1845. The entire course was completed on February 1, 1907 for a total length of nearly 225 kilometers, including 166 in Haute-Marne. Between the Marne basin and the Saône basin, the threshold of the Langres plateau, the watershed, is crossed by means of a 4.8-kilometer tunnel (the 4th fluvial tunnel in France). It was dug out 118 meters underground and dug between 1882 and 1888. It is 8 meters wide and has a 4-meter high arch. Its route passes just under the village of Balesmes-sur-Marne. The Langres plateau, the highest point of the canal, also required the setting up of 18 locks between the Côte d'Or and Foulain. On the other hand, its higher altitude offered also the best possibility of water supply by gravity. The presence of numerous sources has enabled engineers to guarantee this supply through the construction of 4 reservoir lakes to regulate the level of the canal. Today, the use of barges, has added river tourism: another way to apprehend the charms and tranquility of the canal.

• Faverolles

• The Gallo-Roman mausoleum of Faverolles
• The remains of this great Gallo-Roman mausoleum were discovered in 1980 on the territory of the commune of Faverolles. At the beginning of the Empire, a Lingon of high social rank had the means to be built, on the edge of its rural domain, a sumptuous tomb, using profusion of funerary themes in its decoration. It was built, in a dominant position, against the Roman road which goes from Langres to the valley of the Blaise and which branches on the great road from Langres to Reims.
• The monument stood in a square enclosure of about thirty meters on the side, marked by a moat and an inner slope. It can be compared to the Mausoleum of Jules which stands at Glanum, near Saint Remy de Provence. Despite the recovery of building stones, during the Middle Ages, the site has delivered tens of thousands of fragments of all sizes and blocks that allowed to restore the elevation with good safety.
• It was constructed of large unit blocks, assembled with live joints and sealed with iron clips or wooden dovetails. In the form of a slender tower with a square base of about 8 m on one side, it superimposed, on nearly 25 m high, three levels of Corinthian order, surmounted by a roof, itself crowned with a big Corinthian capital.
• The archaeological museum of Faverolles
• The remains of this mausoleum, the only one of this importance known throughout the northern part of France, are exhibited in the archaeological museum located in the heart of the village. Around a large model are arranged these finely carved decorations and loaded with a funerary symbolism: high relief evoking a hunting scene; life-size lions; marine centaurs with human bust and fish-tail, funerary masks belonging to the Bacchus procession: Bacchus, Menade, Silenus; bas-relief of arms, columns, capitals, cornices with modillions and caissons...

• The convent of Saint-Loup

• In 1836, Aspasie Petit of Courcelles-sur-Aujon founded the Convent of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Saint-Loup. A few years later, she became the Superior under the name of Mother Mary of Jesus.
• The school is designed to welcome girls from all over the region to receive instruction and education. The worker has an excellent reputation. This mission will be fulfilled for 130 years.
• Two additional institutions are created in Morey and Brachay.
• The primitive chapel was replaced in 1875 by the magnificent Gothic chapel.
• In 1966, this congregation merged with that of the Daughters of Wisdom, whose mother-house was in Saint-sur-Sèvre, Vendée. The convent then becomes a retirement home for both orders. For the past fifteen years, he has also received Annonciades de Langres nuns who have left their monastery.

• Abbey of Mormant

• Located on the Roman road leading from Langres to Reims, the House-Dieu de Mormant, founded in 1120, received from its origins a vocation as a hospitable house, providing the essential relay for "passers-by" on a busy road. Administered by the Augustinians and endowed with numerous donations, Mormant then passes into the hands of the Knights Templar, a religious military order charged with protecting pilgrims along the roads leading to the holy places. Accused of heresy by the king, they are arrested and then executed. Their heritage
• is transmitted to the Hospitallers of Saint John of Jerusalem, also monk-soldiers known later as the Knights of Malta.
• The XII ° s chapter building, partially buried, still remains. On the ground floor there is a vaulted room and on the first floor the cells of the monks with a fresco of the sixteenth century depicting the lamentation of Christ. Also worth seeing are the hospital-hospice with its remarkable architecture, the remains of the rampart, the fortified house and the crypt of Commander Pierre de Bosredon, formerly located under the church of Mormant.