Orléans: Joan of Arc's City, from the Cathedral Windows to Her House
Centre-Val de Loire, France
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Maid of Orléans
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225
XP
+100 France
= 325 total
1 day
Orléans: Joan of Arc's City, from the Cathedral Windows to Her House
225 + 100 XP
Joan of Arc lodged in Orléans in the spring of 1429 while she raised the English siege, in the town house of Jacques Boucher, treasurer to the duke of Orléans; the house was destroyed by the bombing of 1940 and rebuilt to its old form in 1965. In the cathedral of Sainte-Croix, whose first stone was laid by Henri IV and Marie de Médicis on 18 April 1601 after Huguenots blew up the crossing in 1568, the nave-aisle windows of 1893-1897 tell her life in ten scenes, and in front of the Hôtel Groslot her statue by Princess Marie d'Orléans still carries the bullet marks of the liberation of August 1944. Below the town, the Loire quays are the place to walk.
Required Activities
1
of 4
Work along the aisle windows of the nave of Sainte-Croix, glazed between 1893 and 1897, and account for all ten scenes of Joan of Arc's life in order
2
of 4
Go into the Maison de Jeanne d'Arc, the four-storey brick and timber house of the duke's treasurer Jacques Boucher rebuilt in 1965, and look up at its mullioned windows from the street before you climb its floors
3
of 4
Find Princess Marie d'Orléans's kneeling Joan in front of the perron of the Hôtel Groslot and pick out the bullet marks she took in the liberation of Orléans in August 1944
4
of 4
Walk the Loire quays from the Quai du Châtelet to the pont Royal and find the flat-bottomed river craft moored there, gabarres and futreaux, whose masts fold down to pass under the bridges
Work along the aisle windows of the nave of Sainte-Croix, glazed between 1893 and 1897, and account for all ten scenes of Joan of Arc's life in order
Go into the Maison de Jeanne d'Arc, the four-storey brick and timber house of the duke's treasurer Jacques Boucher rebuilt in 1965, and look up at its mullioned windows from the street before you climb its floors
Find Princess Marie d'Orléans's kneeling Joan in front of the perron of the Hôtel Groslot and pick out the bullet marks she took in the liberation of Orléans in August 1944
Walk the Loire quays from the Quai du Châtelet to the pont Royal and find the flat-bottomed river craft moored there, gabarres and futreaux, whose masts fold down to pass under the bridges
Before you go
The Maison de Jeanne d'Arc is a ticketed municipal museum and does not open every day out of season — check the day before travelling. The Festival de Loire fills the quays every other September in odd years, which is the best time to see the old boats and the worst for parking a van near the river.
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
225 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
325 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
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