Moret-sur-Loing, a medieval and royal city

Moret-sur-Loing once lay on the border between the Kingdom of France and the Duchy of Burgundy. For three centuries, it was a royal town, shaped and fortified by the Capetian kings Louis VI, Louis VII and Philip Augustus. The royal square, the ramparts and the twelfth-century keep are proud remnants of the Medieval period and structure the architecture of the old town. While the 1356 metres of ramparts and the twenty-or-so turrets no longer all remain, the two gates of Burgundy and Samois, as well as the layout of the town centre, are magnificent echoes of its medieval past. The majestic gates, the bridge and the banks of the Loing, as well as Notre Dame church, make Moret an essential place to visit for lovers of history and painting. A stroll through the town centre offers a chance to discover superb Renaissance façades, the Maison du Sucre d’Orge, a barley sugar speciality made by the nuns of Moret-sur-Loing since the seventeenth century, and the home and grave of Alfred Sisley, an impressionist painter who lived in Moret-sur-Loing and captured the splendour and light of the town.
Many tourists come to see the sites painted by Sisley, where the “spots” have been preserved, such as the bridge over the Loing, immortalised by the painter, Notre-Dame church, the keep and the towpaths.