ClasséAbbey · protected 1920Ancienne abbaye Saint-VannePart of the building is protectedPhoto: Fab5669 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Évêché (ancien) · Photo: Fryderyk · CC BY-SA 3.023historic monuments
History of Verdun · Monuments historiques
23 historic monuments and a protected historic area since 2022
The Culture ministry lists 23 historic monuments in Verdun: 12 classé (France’s highest heritage protection) and 11 inscrit (the second level). That’s 14 for every 10,000 residents, more per resident than 91% of compared French towns; the median compared French town has 2.5. The oldest date from the 10th century. We have photos of 20 of them.
Monuments historiques
23
14 per 10,000 residents
median compared town 2.5
median compared town 2.5
Classé
12
the highest protection
Inscrit
11
the second level
Oldest part
10th c.
of any listed monument
Homes before 1919
5.3%
median compared town 7.4%
In pictures
Verdun in 20 photos
Nearly every classé monument, photographed. Tap a photo to step through them full screen.
Enceinte fortifiéeClassé
ImmeubleClassé
Pont-écluse Saint-AmandClassé
Hôtel de villeClassé
Ancienne abbaye Saint-VanneClassé+15See all photosPhotos from Wikimedia Commons, copied to our own server, each credited to its photographer with its license; names open the monument’s page.
Protected area
Verdun has had a protected historic area since 2022
Sites patrimoniaux remarquables on the Culture ministry’s list, with the plan in force.
| Area | Created as | Plan in force |
|---|---|---|
| SPR44-41 | – April 13, 2022 | – |
A site patrimonial remarquable protects a whole area rather than one building: inside it, building work follows the area’s own plan and needs the agreement of the architecte des Bâtiments de France.
The list gives no boundaries, so the map can’t show the area.
Map
Where Verdun’s monuments stand
Every monument with a point on the ministry’s list; the larger, darker dots are classé.
ClasséInscritWithin 400 m of Cathédrale Notre-Dame
6 of 12classé monuments stand within 400 m of Cathédrale Notre-Dame, with 13 of the town’s 23 monuments.
Tap a dot to open the monument’s page: its record, photo and the monuments around it.
23 monuments by protection
12 Classé11 Inscrit
Classé is the higher protection: any work on the building needs the State’s permission. Work on an inscrit building must be declared to the State in advance. Around both, building work in sight of the monument (usually within 500 m) needs the agreement of the architecte des Bâtiments de France.
Points as the ministry gives them: a monument spread over several plots has one point.
Classé
12 classé monuments in Verdun
Classé is France’s highest protection for a building, held by about a third of the monuments on the list. 4 of the 12 are protected in part only (a façade, a roof, a room). Each card opens the monument’s page.
ClasséTown walls · protected 1937Enceinte fortifiéePart of the building is protectedPhoto: Lorraine.Agostini · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
ClasséConvent · protected 2002Synagogue et ancienne maison du rabbinPhoto: Lorraine.Agostini · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Classé
ClasséMilitary building · protected 1881Porte Chaussée (porte et passage entre deux tours)Photo: Alf van Beem · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
ClasséTown house · protected 1921Hôtel de Princerie, actuellement muséePhoto: MOSSOT · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
ClasséBridge · protected 1978Pont-écluse Saint-AmandPhoto: Lorraine.Agostini · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Classé
Classé
Classé
ClasséBuilding · protected 1950Immeuble, 27 rue de la PaixPart of the building is protectedPhoto: Lorraine.Agostini · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
ClasséSchool · protected 1921CollègePart of the building is protectedPhoto: Lorraine.Agostini · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Inscrit
11 inscrit monuments in Verdun
Inscrit is the second level of protection: the building is worth keeping, and any work on it must be declared.
Inscrit
Inscrit
InscritHouse · protected 1926Maison dite du Pape Jules IIPart of the building is protectedPhoto: Lorraine.Agostini · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
InscritAbbey · protected 1926Ancienne abbaye Saint-Paul, sous-préfecture et palais de justicePart of the building is protectedPhoto: M.Minderhoud · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
InscritBuilding · protected 1972Immeuble NoguezPart of the building is protectedPhoto: Lorraine.Agostini · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
InscritChapel · protected 2003Chapelle de l'Institution Saint-JosephPhoto: Fab5669 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Inscrit
InscritMilitary building · protected 1929CitadellePhoto: L’auteur n’a pas pu être identifié automatiquement. Il est supposé qu'il s'agit de : PRA (étant donné la revendication de droit d’auteur). · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons
Town gate · protected 1929Porte de Metz (ancienne)
Monument · protected 1989Monument A la Victoire et aux Soldats de Verdun
Building · protected 1992Immeuble, 6 rue Saint-MaurPart of the building is protected
What’s protected
Houses and homes are the largest group in Verdun
Each monument under the main domain Mérimée gives it.
Houses & homes6
Military & fortified6
Religious buildings5
Public & civic3
Tombs & cemeteries1
Bridges & engineering1
Houses & homes: 6 of 23 monuments (26%). 5 are religious buildings, 3 of them classé.
Mérimée files each monument under one main domain: a château with its chapel counts once. 1 has no domain on the list.
How old
How old Verdun’s monuments are
Each monument once, by the oldest part the list dates.
Prehistory & Antiquity to the 4th c.0
Middle Ages 5th–15th c.7
16th to 18th century Renaissance to Revolution10
19th century 1801–19001
20th century and later since 19011
7 of 19 dated monuments have parts from before 1500. The oldest dated: Ancienne abbaye Saint-Vanne (10th & 12th c.). 4 monuments have no date on the list.
When protected
Verdun’s list has grown since 1881
Monuments by the year they were first protected.
18801900192019401960198020002020
First protected, in 1881: Porte Chaussée (porte et passage entre deux tours). 2 were protected in 1920 alone. 2 have been added since 2011.
Born before 1900
14 people born in Verdun before 1900
Their lives on one line.
Jean-Nicolas de Parival
Paul Louis Antoine de Rosières
Jean-Baptiste Charles Hallot
Antoine Pierre Gallois
Jean, Joseph Paillet
Jean-Baptiste Dominique Catoire-Moulainville
Jean-Baptiste, Toussaint Lambry
Charles Nicolas d'Anthouard de Vraincourt
Charles Antoine Génin
Félix Chadenet
Nicolas-Amand Buvignier
Isidore Buvignier
Charles Buvignier
Gustave Pierre
16001650170017501800185019001950
FC
Félix Chadenet1798–1874 · French politician
JN
Jean-Nicolas de Parival1605–1669 · French writer
PL
Paul Louis Antoine de Rosières1723–1794 · French general
JB
Jean-Baptiste Charles Hallot1729–1799 · French general
AP
Antoine Pierre Gallois1730– · French general
JJ
Jean, Joseph Paillet1748–1836 · French politician
JB
Jean-Baptiste Dominique Catoire-Moulainville1762–1805 · French politician
JB
Jean-Baptiste, Toussaint Lambry1762–1838 · French politician
Everyone born in Verdun Birthplaces from Wikidata, checked against Wikipedia.
Towns its size
Verdun has the 2nd most monuments of 41 towns its size
Compared French towns of 16,400 to 17,500 residents, by historic monuments.
Verdun23
#2 of 41for monuments per resident (14 per 10,000). Most per resident: Lons-le-Saunier, Verdun and Lamballe-Armor.
The median town of these has 3. 4 of the 41 have none.
Neighbors
Historic monuments in the towns around Verdun
| Town | Residents | Monuments | Classé | Protected area |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Verdun | 16,890 | 23 | 12 | Yes |
| Belleville-sur-Meuse | 3,013 | 1 | 0 | — |
| Thierville-sur-Meuse | 3,172 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Étain | 3,375 | 2 | 1 | — |
In brief
Verdun in brief
For its size, Verdun has more historic monuments than 91% of compared French towns. All told, the list holds 23 historic monuments, 12 of them classé, including Évêché (ancien). Cathédrale Notre-Dame sits at the heart of it all, with 6 of the town’s classé monuments within 400 m. The Mission Patrimoine has picked 2 of its monuments as heritage in danger to save, Synagogue et ancienne maison du rabbin first, in 2019.
Only one of the 41 towns nearest its size has more historic monuments. Part of it has been a site patrimonial remarquable since 2022. Most of its dated monuments come from the 16th to 18th centuries: 10 of 19. Otherwise the figures are ordinary: 5.3% of its homes were built before 1919, close to the 7.4% in the median compared French town.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Monuments historiques. France protects buildings at two levels. Classé, the higher (about a third of the list), means any work needs the State’s permission; inscrit means work must be declared to the State in advance. The Culture ministry’s Mérimée base lists every protected building, and this page counts them.
- Partly protected. Many entries protect part of a building only (its façades and roofs, a staircase, a painted room). Each counts as one monument, like a fully protected one.
- Where a monument is counted. In the commune named on its protection, moved to today’s commune where communes have since merged. A monument listed for several communes counts in each.
- Sites patrimoniaux remarquables. Since 2016 France’s protected historic areas (the former secteurs sauvegardés, ZPPAUP and AVAP) share one name. Inside one, building work follows the area’s plan and needs the agreement of the architecte des Bâtiments de France.
- What isn’t here. Protected objects (furniture, organs, paintings), old buildings with no protection, UNESCO World Heritage listings and labels such as “Plus Beaux Villages de France” aren’t on this list, so this page doesn’t count them.
- No History Grade yet. Everything on this page is described, not graded: France’s History Grade isn’t built yet.
Questions about the history of Verdun
How many historic monuments are there in Verdun?
The Culture ministry lists 23 historic monuments in Verdun: 12 classé and 11 inscrit.
Which monuments in Verdun are classé?
12, among them Ancienne abbaye Saint-Vanne, Enceinte fortifiée, Synagogue et ancienne maison du rabbin, Tour de l'Islot, Porte Chaussée (porte et passage entre deux tours) and Hôtel de Princerie, actuellement musée.
How old are the monuments of Verdun?
The oldest parts of its listed monuments date from the 10th century.
Is Verdun a protected historic area?
Yes: part of Verdun has been a site patrimonial remarquable since 2022.
When were monuments in Verdun first protected?
The first in 1881, the latest in 2022.
How old are the homes in Verdun?
5.3% of its main homes were built before 1919 (median compared French town: 7.4%).
France has no History Grade yet: this page describes, it doesn’t grade.
Sources: Ministère de la Culture, Mérimée base on POP (immeubles protégés au titre des monuments historiques), October 2026 · Ministère de la Culture, sites patrimoniaux remarquables, October 2026 · INSEE, census 2023 (main homes by build period) · Wikidata and Wikipedia (people born here) · Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata (photos of the monuments, each with its own credit and license) · IGN Admin Express (boundaries) · Medians and percentiles: TownRatings, over compared French towns, updated November 4, 2026. Under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab).
Contains public sector information under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab): INSEE, DGFiP, the Interior Ministry’s statistics service (SSMSI), the Ministry of Education (DEPP), the Health Ministry’s statistics service (DREES) and the Housing Ministry (Carte des loyers). Commune boundaries: IGN Admin Express.