Nolay and Its Medieval Market Hall (Nolay et ses halles médiévales)

What you will see

Start at the market hall and look up at its dense web of timbers and its heavy stone roof. The church of Saint-Martin stands close by, with its jacquemart on the bell tower. Then wander the lanes past half-timbered houses to the Carnot statue. On Mondays the market fills the square by the town hall. The tourist office also runs guided tours of the town.

History

Nolay grew on a Gallo-Roman site and prospered as a crossroads between wine country and farmland. Its great timber market hall is its landmark. A beam in the frame bears the date 1388, taken to be the year it was built. The roof is covered with laves, thin slabs of Burgundy limestone weighing 600 to 800 kilos per square metre, carried on oak and chestnut timbers.

The hall was classified as a historic monument on 13 July 1907, and the French state bought it in 1936. Its roof was completely rebuilt in 1951. Excavations in 1995 showed that it once sheltered the town's communal oven, removed in 1763 because of the fire risk to the timber frame. Around the hall stand houses from the 15th to the 17th centuries.

Nolay also has famous connections. Lazare Carnot, the mathematician known as the Organiser of Victory during the French Revolution, was born here on 13 May 1753, and a plaque marks his birthplace. A bronze statue by Roulleau stands in his honour. Félix Kir, the priest and later mayor of Dijon whose name lives on in the kir aperitif, was parish priest here from 1924 to 1928.