Things to See in Épinal

Épinal is widely associated with the popular prints that made its name in the nineteenth century, but its built heritage is broader. Medieval ruins, a Chinese-inspired stair tower, churches drawing on several regional traditions and modern concrete-and-glass architecture all appear within the city and its immediate surroundings.

The castle hill and Place des Vosges

Épinal’s castle was built in the middle of the thirteenth century on a hill above the city. Troops of Louis XIV destroyed the fortress in 1670, leaving the ruins now contained within a 26-hectare park. The grounds include a medieval garden and an animal park. At an elevation of 387 metres, the site also provides a broad view over Épinal.

The Tour Chinoise clings to the rocky spur below the castle. Despite the appearance of a small pavilion, it is a covered staircase built in 1804. Its Chinese-inspired design linked the home of a wealthy receiver-general of finances with his private gardens in the castle park.

At the foot of the hill, Place des Vosges preserves houses with thirteenth-century arcades once used by merchants. The seventeenth-century Maison du Bailli is distinguished by its loggia. Small fountains and planted beds occupy the square, which is protected as a historic monument.

Two contrasting churches

Saint-Maurice Basilica was constructed between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries. Its architecture brings together several regional influences: the restrained façade follows a Rhineland tradition, the Portail des Bourgeois on the left flank is Champenois in style, and the three-level nave reflects Burgundian design. Rhineland, Champagne and Burgundian traditions therefore meet within a single building.

Notre-Dame-au-Cierge belongs to a very different era. Built in 1958 on the site of an earlier church destroyed by bombing during the Second World War, it uses concrete and glass rather than historic revival styles. A large stained-glass wall in the choir depicts episodes from the life of the Virgin.

Épinal’s print tradition and the Maison Romaine

The Cité de l’Image combines the Imagerie d’Épinal with the Musée de l’Image. Together they document the prints associated with the city since the nineteenth century. The Imagerie presents the craft workshop where the earliest Épinal images were printed from 1796, while the museum places older examples alongside modern works.

The Maison Romaine adds another imported architectural reference. In 1894, a wealthy local industrialist commissioned a copy of a house from southern Italy. A long sequence of columns defines the building, and its grounds were arranged as a formal French garden devoted largely to roses.

Parks and military history

Parc du Cours lies close to the centre and is laid out in the English landscape style, with varied trees and planting. Its bandstand dates from 1863.

Fort d’Uxegney was built between 1882 and 1884 as part of the effort to strengthen France’s eastern frontier after the war of 1870. It retains many of the installations planned for a later conflict, including a turret for two guns, a separate machine-gun turret, soldiers’ quarters and kitchens.