Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The former hotel Saint-Louis is located in the hamlet of Cormiers, in Cléré-les-Pins, on a historic axis linking Tours to Angers. This place was a major post office relay in the 17th century, integrating three hotels whose only one of Saint-Louis retained its original architecture. The buildings, organised around a square courtyard, included stables, sheds and a dwelling pavilion, reflecting the typical organisation of the relays of the time.

The entrance porch, un arched and flanked by low arched arcades, is surmounted by a wooden and hurdled dovecote, a characteristic element of rural constructions of the period. The North-West Pavilion, on one floor and high, as well as the associated facades and roofs, was protected by a registration order under the Historic Monuments on 5 June 1962. This classification underscores the heritage value of this complex, as a witness to the transportation infrastructure of the Ancien Régime.

The Cormiers formed a fief dependent on Champchevrier, illustrating the seigneurial system still present in the seventeenth century. The exceptional preservation of this hotel, among the three originals, offers a rare overview of the steps and services offered to travellers on the main roads of the time. Today, the site remains a marker of the rural heritage of Niger, associated with the history of travel and regional trade.

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