Nevers City Info

Narrow winding streets lead from the quay through the town where there are numerous old houses of the 14th to the 17th centuries. Among the ecclesiastical buildings the most important is the cathedral of Saint Cyr-Sainte Juliette, which is a combination of two buildings, and possesses two apses. The apse and transept at the west end are the remains of a Romanesque church, while the nave and eastern apse are in the Gothic style and belong to the 14th century. There is no transept at the eastern end.

The church of Saint Etienne is a specimen of the Romanesque style of Auvergne of which the disposition of the apse with its three radiating chapels is characteristic. It was consecrated at the close of the nth century, and belonged to a priory affiliated to Cluny. The ducal palace at Nevers (now occupied by the courts of justice and an important ceramic museum) was built in the 15th and 16th centuries and is one of the principal feudal edifices in central France. The facade is flanked at each end by a turret and a round tower.

In front of the palace lies a wide open space with a fine view over the valley of Loire. The Porte du Croux, a square tower, with corner turrets, dating from the end of the 14th century, is among the remnants of the old fortifications; it now contains a collection of sculptures and Roman antiquities. Loire is crossed by a modern stone bridge, and by an iron railway bridge.