For February 14 to be passion-filled, leave the gondolas in Venice and go to Troyes, the city with a beating heart. In the footsteps of the cursed lovers Heloise and Abelard, browse the suitor’s map of a city characterized by love, and accented with sculpture. Courting there can then only make sense.
A city with a big heart
The residents of Troyes are very proud of it and it has become the emblem of the city. A monumental heart beats wildly on the Dampierre pier since 2013. A stainless steel lattice, designed by a couple of Aubois artists, Michèle and Thierry Kayo-Houel reddens at night with a clever play of light. A pulse fragile like the birth of love for a sculpture of 2 tons and 3.5 meters high. It is the epicenter of the city and the seat of love that spreads in the arteries of the city.
An artistic and romantic route embellishes the city
Spanning the canal, the Héloïse bridge bears no resemblance to the bridge of Sighs but takes after the bridge of the Arts. The lovers come to hang their locks there and the tree of love, planted in Place du Préau, is a confidant heavy with oaths and eternal promises. The rejected or the lonely seeking a soul mate can kiss The girl who gives a kiss, mischievous sculpture by the Dutch Sjer Jacobs. Body stretched and lips offered, the libertine will not leave you with a heart of stone!
Troyes, home to a court of love
Troyes is part of a small number of cities which included a court of a particular kind: a Court of Love. Imitating parliaments, it applied the general regulations of love: fidelity, obedience to one’s lady, kindness, hospitality and promoted poetry and literature under the presidency of Marie de France, wife of Henri I, known as the liberal. Influential on the morals of the time, it spoke out strongly in the interests of women who did not really have much of a say in the twelfth century.
Heloise and Abelard, the eternal passion
Héloïse paid the price. Her love affair with Abelard remains a symbol of courtly love. When a very young girl falls in love with her brilliant teacher and becomes pregnant, marriage is certainly necessary, but the young man's uncle breaks the spell. Abelard is emasculated on his orders and becomes a monk. The girl enters the convent and their passion survives through smouldering correspondence. The romance of the two lovers, reunited in the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris, still permeates the city like a powerful perfume.
An oath, two kisses, and eternal Troyes to declare your love with Lili Rosa, an orange-tinged love rose created for the beautiful Auboise city!
Photo: Tourist Office of the Aube
The housing solution in Troyes
Finding a cozy nest in Troyes is easy with the hotel residence Smartappart. Its furnished and connected apartments will guarantee discretion and comfort with discounted rates starting at two nights: studio, deluxe studio, 2 rooms
