Provins (pop. 11,684), situated southeast of Paris on the rivers Voulzie and Durteint, is still partly surrounded by its old walls. In the Middle Ages it was an important commercial center with a population of some 80,000, but it declined as a result of the wars with England and was even harder hit by the 16th century wars of religion.
In the lower town are several old churches, including the Romanesque/Gothic church of St-Ayoul (12th-16th C.), with fine 16th C. alabaster statues. To the north is the Tour Notre-Dame-du-Val (16th C.). In the north of the town is the former Hôpital Général (now a hospice) housed in an old convent of Franciscan nuns (1246), which preserves two sides of the cloister.
Provins is a rose-growing center, with fields of roses extending to Villecresnes, Brie- Comte-Robert, Grisly-Suisnes, Guignes- Rabutin and Nangis along N19 (the "Route des Roses").
The upper town has preserved a number of important medieval buildings, including the church of St- Quiriace (1160), with a beautiful Gothic choir and a modern dome, the Tour de César, a 12th C. watch tower, the Porte St-Jean, and the Grange aux Dîmes, a 13th C. tithe barn which houses a small museum.
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