Vendome Attractions

Vendôme (pop. 20,000), the Gallo-Roman Vindocinum, lies 30km/19mi northwest of Blois on the Loire, here divided into several arms. The central feature of the town is the Place St-Martin, on the west side of which is the Tour St-Martin (15th-16th C.), a relic of a Renaissance church which was pulled down in 1857. At the northeast corner of the square is the Rue du Change, in which is the Chapelle du Lycée (1452). To the west, at the end of Rue St-Jacques, is the church of the Madeleine (1474).

A little way east of Place St-Martin is the church of La Trinité (12th-15th C.), with a richly decorated facade. In front of it is a free-standing tower (12th C.). The church has fine stained glass and 15th- 16th C. choir-stalls.

The buildings of the former abbey now house the Municipal Museum (religious art of the medieval and Renaissance periods).

Of the castle, originally founded in the ninth C., there survive a number of towers and extensive remains of walls (13th-15th C.).