On the Way of the Gallo-Romans

Depart from the town of Langres, latitude 47.8588640 (N 47° 51’ 32”), longitude 5.3326300 (E 5° 19’ 57”)

• Tourist Office

• Bike rental at the Tourist Office for use in the city, on the ramparts or on the greenway and along the canal (or lakes... with electric bikes). Accessories such as helmets, locks, baskets, baby seats, are included in the rental price. The presence of a basket can be very useful: one places his purse, his commissions, a city map and even a Guide-Man... The park includes 10 adult bicycles, 4 baby carriers, 2 children's bicycles (20 inches), 2 monoroues and 1 child trailer.
• Electric bicycles
• Four electric bikes are also available at the Tourist Office, and offer you to ride a bike without unnecessary effort. Efficient and quiet, you will have the pleasure of discovering the historic city while driving with these easy-to-use bicycles, to connect the lake of liez, to cross the green way, the towpath of the canal between Champagne and Burgundy or all our other bike tours through the country of Langres and 4 Lakes. We turn the ignition key and for the rest, it's like a classic bike. No need to manage the power assistance, it triggers and stops automatically, transparently, according to your needs.

• 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 km tunnel (4th river 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 plateau of Langres, culminating 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, when the barges are frequented, there is also river tourism: another way to apprehend the charms and tranquility of the canal, from the port of Champigny-lès-Langres.

• The archaeological workshop of Faverolles

• The remains of the mausoleum, the only one of this importance known throughout the northern part of France, are exhibited in the archaeological workshop 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 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 Blaise and which branches on the main 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 delivered tens of thousands of fragments of all sizes and blocks that allowed to restore the elevation with good safety. It was built in blocks of large apparatus, assembled with live joints and sealed by 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 loft of Marac

• Presumed twelfth century, it is one of the witnesses of the prosperous past of Marac. It was then an outbuilding of the Château de Champagne located on a rocky spur on the other side of the Suize and which was a counterpart to the Château de Bourgogne (big turreted house in the rue de Bourgogne).
• Marac was a border post and its politico-historical situation left the current city map an indelible imprint. Two parallel streets facing north-west, south-east: rue de Bourgogne and rue de Champagne, the oldest part of the village located on the west bank of Suize.
• The Colombier was a privilege of the Lord of Marac to breed pigeons. It presents itself as a round tower of 8.50 meters in diameter and includes 1500 boulins which were accessed by a rotating ladder. The building was restored in 1983.

• The Fly Lake

• Lake Saint-Ciergues is the smallest of the 4 lakes of the Pays de Langres. With a surface area of ​​97 hectares and a length of 2.4 kilometers, it is the deepest and deepest lake (nearly 21 meters).
• Created between 1882 and 1889, it collects the waters of the Fly and Morgon, which covers a basin of 6 500 hectares, for a storage capacity of 8 648 000 cubic meters of water. The low footprint of the developments made it one of the "wildest" lakes in the country of Langres, reserved for fishing and hiking.