With its eleventh–century castle, it was the centre of the lord‘s political and military power until the French Revolution. It was also the centre of religious and intellectual power with the clergymen at the Collegiate Church Saint–Potentien (between the eleventh & sixteenth centuries), to which pilgrims flocked until the eighteenth century.
In the upper town, many attractive dwellings were built between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, although they were often remodelled.
The promontory offers a beautiful view of the elegant port, the Canal du Nivernais and the Yonne valley.
Initially limited to the confluence basin, the town gradually grew to reach the plateaus, the neighbouring valleys and finally to the railway station which was built in 1886.
The lower city was initially the city of the commoners; full of craftsmen, commerce and rural life (there were 6 farms within the city walls), then
from the middle of the sixteenth century, it became home to the “river companions“.
From the eighteenth century, the new merchant bourgeoisie, particularly linked to the timber trade, settled there.
Finally, the lower town definitively became the centre of political power in the nineteenth century, when the majestic building housing the Town Hall was built in 1842.
– Edme Champion, known as the Little Blue Coat (1764–1852) was the first person to organize soup kitchens in Paris. His birthplace is at 18 rue Champion. His is buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris.
– Achille Tenaille de Vaulabelle (1799–1879), author of “History of the 2 Restorations“, and Ministre de l’instruction Publique from July to October 1848. His birthplace is at 10 rue Vaulabelle.
– The Cotteau brothers: Edmond, mayor from 1830 to 1870 and Gustave (1818–1894) founder of the Academy of Sciences in Yonne.
– ColonelRozanoff (1905-1954) A Dassault test pilot (Mystere IV)
