Provins Off The Beaten Path Tips by hquittner

The Eglise St.-Loup-de-Naud is 8 km away

This masterpiece of early European Sculpture is nearby. If you are in Provins by car be sure to see it. It is hard to realize that in the 12C Provins (today 12.5K pop) was the capital of Brie (and with a pop. of 80K) in which the Thibaults (Counts) resided and wrote poetry and sang. The rich churches here and nearby thus participated in the earliest evidences of Gothic experimental style in their construction. (Reims cathedral was only started in 1211). Due to their wealth, power and proximity, it was easy to commission the sculptors at Chartres to create more of the same for such monastery churches as St.-Ayoul and St.-Loup (and others); after all the West Facade at Chartres was finished by 1175. This priory church was started about 1100. The porch must have been added to protect the statues before they were delivered. (We have made St.-Loup pages).