Discover Crouzilles: Heritage, Landscape and Cycling Route

Crouzilles combines the landscapes along the Vienne, Manse and La Boire with church architecture, early settlement history and a designated cycling route. This gives you different ways to plan your trip: Notre-Dame and Mougon offer cultural and historical themes, while Cycling Route No. 36 provides a specific circular route.

Landscape and winegrowing

The 1,454-hectare municipality of Crouzilles is bounded by the Vienne to the south and by the Manse and the La Boire stream to the north. The Puits-Livet terrace offers a different connection to the landscape: it lies at an elevation of 13 to 20 metres and is considered suitable for viticulture in the Chinon AOC appellation. Thus, the municipality’s geographical extent and a single terrace suitable for winegrowing represent distinct aspects of the landscape.

Notre-Dame: Architecture and heritage status

Notre-Dame is vaulted throughout and has a Latin-cross floor plan. The nave has a single aisle, and the vaults are rib vaults. The choir is particularly notable: in Touraine, it is considered a rare example of ribs supporting statues. The floor plan, nave and choir offer different perspectives on the church’s architecture. For you, Notre-Dame therefore combines the church’s overall form with a feature of the choir that is rare in the region.

The church’s heritage protection also involves two different dates. By decree of 6 October 1921, the apse was classified as a historic monument; by decree of 17 September 1953, the rest of the church building was listed as a historic monument. The first date applies to the apse, the second to the rest of the building—a key distinction when considering the architecture and heritage status together.

Mougon and traces of history

Mougon, on the right bank of the Vienne, was an important centre of pottery production during the High Roman Empire. In Gallo-Roman times, Mougon was also a secondary settlement. These two aspects shed light on different historical layers: its classification as a settlement type and the significance of pottery in a particular period. According to tradition, the church at Mougon is linked to an original place of worship said to have been built around 450 by Saint Perpet. Thus, archaeological settlement history and a church history identified as tradition stand side by side.

The Château de Paviers was built in the 15th and 16th centuries. The tradition dating to around 450 and the château’s construction period refer to widely separated historical periods: a foundation tradition in one case, and a period of construction in the other.

Explore Crouzilles by bike

Cycling Route No. 36 passes through Crouzilles and is an easy circular route covering 23.3 kilometres. Its circular layout, difficulty and distance offer different points of reference for planning your trip. This lets you make the cycling route a focus of activity alongside the church architecture and local history.

Discover more destinations: Crissay-Sur-Manse, Saint-Antoine-Du-Rocher, Bridoré, Saint-Benoît-La-Forêt, Véretz, Dolus-Le-Sec, Tournon-Saint-Pierre, Braye-Sous-Faye

For the regional travel overview: Indre-Et-Loire.