ARGONNE

PRESERVED VILLAGES
In the detour of the minor roads which furrow this forest of Argonne, it is necessary to take time to discover its small villages which knew to keep their charms of yesteryear. An imposing church in the center of a locality can surprise. And yet the faith of the men formerly, was without measurement. It is important enough to give them the force to build such buildings. On the village square, one finds also the laundrette, public place where all the news circulated. It is often there that the rumours were born. Several museums recall this life of yesterday. In Châlons-en-Champagne, Braux-Ste-Cohière or St Ménehould for example. Capital of Champagne-Ardenne, Châlons-en-Champagne kept the discrete charm of a provincial town. Houses with wood sides coast middle-class residences made up of red chalk and bricks. In Vouziers,the triple gate of the St Maurille church is a beautiful example of the Renaissance style. This small city became a commercial borough under the impulse of François the 1st who created a fair in 1516 there.
In St Ménehould, the place where stands up the town hall, enjoy the typical architecture of the XVIIIthcentury, made up of pink bricks with substructure and bluish slate roofs. In addition to its style and its history, Ste Ménehould is also the motherland of Dom Pérignon, who is the well-known monk that one party owes champagne. He exerted his talents of cellérier a few kilometres from there, in the abbey of Hautvillers, close to Epernay.