Provins

Provins stood at the crossroads of two Roman roads, from Soissons to Troyes and towards Sens, and the hilltop of today's upper town is thought to have been fortified under Roman rule. By the 9th century it was minting its own coin, the denier provinois, and a first wall had formed around the castle at the site of the Tour César. Under the protection of the Counts of Champagne it became one of the great Champagne fair towns: from 1120 to 1320 merchants from across Europe met here, with fairs in May and November in the upper town and a September market in the lower, and Provins became a banking centre whose coin was accepted across the continent.

The counts built Saint-Quiriace, begun by Henry I of Champagne to display a relic brought from Jerusalem, and the 1,200-metre ring of ramparts went up between 1226 and 1314. Prosperity ended in the late 13th century when Philip IV's heavy taxes drove residents away, and between the 14th and 16th centuries the town was besieged and changed hands repeatedly. On 3 August 1429 the newly crowned Charles VII heard Mass at Saint-Quiriace with Joan of Arc.

Largely untouched by the Industrial Revolution, Provins remained a small market town through the 19th century, which is why so much of its medieval fabric survives. German troops occupied it in 1870 and were only barely held off in 1914. In 2001 the town was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site; of the four great Champagne fair towns, it is the only one to keep much of its medieval character.

Medieval heritage is the town's identity and its main industry. Of the fair towns of Champagne — Troyes, Lagny-sur-Marne, Bar-sur-Aube and Provins — only Provins still looks the part, with 12th-century merchants' houses, counting houses and shops in the upper town, and the town is a regular filming location for television series and films. Falconry and jousting shows draw families through the warmer months. The underground galleries and the Grange aux Dîmes found a place in literature in Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum.

Roses are the other emblem. The Provins rose, Rosa gallica, a small, hardy bush much closer to wild roses than modern varieties, has long been grown here, and the town calls itself the capital of rose confectionery. Rose gardens remain in production, and a three-hectare rose garden below the upper town has been restored since 2008. Wine was once a large business, and some residents still make it with old methods.

Religion has left two great churches, Saint-Quiriace in the upper town and Saint-Ayoul in the lower, where a medieval garden and modern sculpture and stained glass sit together. Once a year, a heritage railway association runs steam-hauled trains from Provins station.

About 11,600 people lived in Provins in 2023, a slight fall since 2017 while Seine-et-Marne as a whole grew. It is the sub-prefecture of its arrondissement, though not its largest town, and the seat of the canton. Its inhabitants are called Provinois.

The town is divided between the walled upper town, which holds monuments, schools — among them the Lycée Thibaut-de-Champagne — and many visitors, and the larger lower town, where most people live and shop. On the edge of town a large housing estate, classed as a priority neighbourhood, had about 2,830 residents in 2020, half of them living below the poverty line.

Tourism, rose growing and confectionery, local services and farming on the surrounding plains provide most work. Days in the upper town follow the rhythm of the visitors, busiest at weekends and in summer, while the lower town keeps the pattern of an ordinary French market town.

Provins is best known for rose confectionery. From the petals of the Provins rose its producers make rose-petal jam, Provins rose honey, rose sweets and rose syrup, sold in small shops all over the town. The rose itself, Rosa gallica, also called the French rose or rose of Provins, was one of the first roses cultivated in central Europe.

The town also has a long winemaking past. Provins was once a large producer of wine, and while the vineyards are now few, some residents still make wine using traditional methods.

Around the town, the farmland of Seine-et-Marne roughly corresponds to the old region of Brie that gave the cheese its name; the town has its own brie de Provins, a name registered as a brand in 1979, and the bakeries, markets and brasseries of the lower town serve everyday regional food. In the upper town, the cafés and restaurants around the Place du Châtel cater to visitors between the monuments and the shows.