Niort
An interesting part of the town of Niort is the mainly pedestrian area around rue Victor-Hugo and rue St-Jean, full of stone-fronted or half-timbered medieval houses. The Donjon de Niort or Château de Niort (the former is most often used today) is a medieval castle in the French town of Niort in the département of Deux-Sèvres. It consists of two square towers, linked by a 15th century building and dominates the Sèvre Niortaise valley.
The two donjons are the only remaining part of the castle. The castle was started by Henry II Plantagenet and completed by Richard the Lionheart. It was defended by a rectangular curtain wall and was damaged during the Wars of Religion. From the 18th century, the castle served as a prison.
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Very close to the Donjon (left in this picture) in 1869 Durand constructed with glass and steel this building (according to Baltard's style) to house the third indoor market in Niort. That continues the rich commercial tradition of Niort, when its market was considered the largest in the kingdom. The pediment in main facade entrance is decorated with the figures of Mercury (the Roman god of Commerce) and Ceres (the Roman goddess of the Agriculture).
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The Sèvre Niortaise with gardens and trees along the bank and, over the bridge, the ruins of a glove factory, the last vestige of Niort's once thriving leather industry. At the time of the Revolution, it kept more than thirty cavalry regiments in breeches.
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Today Niort's biggest industry is insurance: the most bourgeois town in France, so it's said, because of the prosperity brought by the large number of major insurance firms making their headquarters here. Accordingly, restaurants are usually packed at lunchtime, and well-heeled shoppers throng the pedestrianized streets, giving a fairly lively – if affluent – feel.
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