Discover Saint Florent sur Cher

Saint Florent Sur Cher probably owes its birth to the presence of a natural ford on the Cher. In Roman times, the village was called "Vicus Aureus", that is, "Le Bourg Doré". A caesar road connected Bourges to Issoudun, towards Poitiers and Bordeaux. It was not until about 1100 that Vicus Aureus was erected as a parish and became Sanctus Florentius after an bishop of Bourges; then the name keeps changing to become Saint Florent Sur Cher in 1599.

The Cher had an important part in the evolution of the city, since it was navigable until 1735, then floated until 1855. Since the Middle Ages, a corporation of sailors and floating wood conductors used two ports: one upstream, near the current viaduct, and the other downstream from the fairground. The castle housing the Town Hall, its dungeon inscribed with historical monuments, the blast furnace of the washhouses, witness to the metallurgy in Berry, the Viaduct, are characteristic buildings.

Before becoming one of the most beautiful town halls in the region, the castle is undergoing many transformations and many Owners. In the past, the Castle was a small fortress in the form a rectangle with a large central courtyard. The entrance opening to the southeast towards the bridge, four towers lined the corners and an additional tower protruded from the center. Each tower was connected by a round path.

Today, only the entrance body to the castle remains. Called the Clock Pavilion, it includes a building with a tower and a Chapel. The 15th century complex is listed as a Historic Monument.

The viaduct was built in 1892-1893 for the directly linking the major military establishments in Bourges east and west of France. It's made of stone-cut to bump dimensions. Featuring 15 30-metre-open full hanger arches and 25 metres high, it passes over 2 roads, the two arms of the river and the island that separate them. The batteries, founded in water, rest each on a concrete mass, established by means of compressed air chambers, 6 metres deep. Above these batteries, the viaduct is pierced, in part, large open-air galleries.

Since 2007 the viaduct has become entirely pedestrianised, offers a panorama of the Cher. Many hikes take it.