On a plateau above the Marne River, Chaumont is a neat, understated town not far from the Champagne wine region.
Graphic designers may already know Chaumont because it’s home to an annual festival for poster design and in 2016 opened France’s only graphic art museum. The headline vision is a 19th-century railway viaduct that continues to bring Basel to Paris and is beautiful when illuminated at night. Chaumont has taken care of its history and there are many castles built on the streets that look like they have hardly changed for centuries. Discover the best things to do in Chaumont.
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1. Viaduc de Chaumont
It’s a testament to 19th-century engineering that this epic viaduct is still being used by trains more than 160 years after it was built. The structure was opened to rail traffic in 1856 and traverses the Suize Valley at a height of 52 meters and stretching out for more than half a kilometer.
There are 50 arches in total, on three tiers, which have helped the viaduct to withstand many decades of vibrations caused by trains. Cross the daytime walkway to take pictures and come back at night when the arches are illuminated by 430 colorful LEDs.
2. Musée d’Art et d’Histoire
Located in the former Palace of Earl of Champagne, this museum can be traced back to the 1790s. The small exhibition space should have a rotating art collection of some heavy artists like Paul de Vos and Charles Gussin.
You can also inspect a riveting archaeology collection, with 3,000-year-old armor, sculpture from the Renaissance tomb of Claude de Lorraine and a 17th-century altarpiece. Two more rooms uncover the Chaumont glove-making business in the 1800s and 1900s. At one time Chaumont was making more gloves than almost anywhere in France.
3. Basilique Saint-Jean-Baptiste
The main religious building of Chaumont is a lovely 13th-century basilica, located in the oldest part of town. The building was enlarged and reworked until the 1500s but if you know where to look you can identify lots of pleasing details from earlier periods.
The southern Saint-Jean portal is full of gothic carvings. The choir is a mix of brilliant gothic style and Renaissance, with beautiful stalls. One man to leave his mark on the basilica in later years was the 17th-century Chaumont-based sculptor Jean-Baptiste Bouchardon.
He crafted the pulpit, the opposing pew and the altar, which has since been moved to the Chapelle de Rosaire.
4. Museum of the Crèche
Annexed to the Museum of Art and History is an exhibition dedicated to babies’ cribs. And while that may seem like an obscure topic, the museum is equipped with some very decorative examples.
Most of these cribs come from the city of Naples and date to the 18th century, boasting incredible artistry, exotic colors and fine fabrics.
There are also traditional nativity scenes to view, made with 18th-century spun glass from Nevers, and a collection of baby Jesus sculptures made of wax, from the 1600s to the 1800s.
5. A Stroll around the Centre
The old heart of Chaumont, with stone-built mansions and monuments, looks like it could be in a period drama.
The town hall on Place de la Concorde is housed in an aristocratic neoclassical castle dating back to the 1780s, while the Hautefeuille Tour, home to the art and history museum, is the last relic of a mighty castle. The grandeur has 12 towers.
On your walk, you’ll also come across a fragment of the old town defenses, at the Tour d’Arse, which used to be an arsenal. Many turrets were fortified, and in fact, all 30 turrets were found on Chaumont street.
6. Les Silos
A graphic art-lovers dream, Les Silos is an exhibition center and library housed in a former agricultural cooperative. The building is a sight in its own way because when it was converted in the 90s the architects managed to keep the two colossal grain hoppers.
But its collections are even more thrilling since here you can see "Dutailly Legacy". This is a library of 5,000 original posters from the turn of the 20th century by artists like Toulouse-Lautrec and Pierre Bonnard.
Les Silos also has about 400 medieval manuscripts, thousands of historical maps and, strangely enough, 16,000 brands of rum appeared in 2010. These are displayed for short periods, so check in to see what’s on when you’re in Chaumont.
7. Festival International de l’Affiche et du Graphisme
The donation of 5,000 posters by Gustave Dutailly 100 years ago has helped Chaumont become a reference point for poster art and graphic design. Launched in 1990, this annual festival, held at the Centre National du Graphisme in Chaumont celebrates the best of this discipline each year.
There’s an international award for best poster, and an annual design competition for up-and-coming designers to come up with a poster based on a specific theme. In 2017 the festival will take place for two weeks starting on 12 May.
8. Le Signe
After hosting the festival for 25 years Chaumont needed a gallery to display the many pieces of cutting-edge design submitted at this time.
So in 2010 plans were made to build a stylish exhibition center, which was finally inaugurated in October 2016. The building is composed of glass and large sheets of stone, 12 cm thick and juxtaposed at different angles.
Le Signe is the first attraction in France dedicated solely to graphic design. There are 45,000 posters in its collection, including many from the Dutailly Heritage.
9. Square Philippe Lebon
Opposite Le Signe is a large square with tall trees, lawns and flower beds. Stop here to rest your feet or take a picnic in the summer. At the terrace, you can admire the palace of the Earl of Champagne, a medieval structure containing the Museum of Art and History.
The square centers on a statue of Philippe Lebon, and while his name might not ring a bell this 18th-century scientist is credited with inventing the gaslight. He was born in 1767, a short distance north of Chaumont in Brachay.
The original statue in his honor was made of bronze but was melted down by the Vichy regime in the war, to be replaced later with a stone copy.
10. Mémorial Charles-de-Gaulle
Possibly the most important figure in 20th-century France is commemorated at this memorial a few kilometers northwest of Chaumont. And you will discover this place from a distance as far as 1972, a huge Lorraine Cross has been installed here.
The visitor center was given a big makeover in 2008. This is now a multi-sensory gallery, resonating with audio from his speeches, archive footage and large models recreating Second World War battle scenes.
You’ll come away with a sense of de Gaulle as an individual, but also understanding the world events unfolding during his career.
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