The family of Crussol were great supporters of Protestantism in the South of France, and Galiot de Crussol was killed in the Massacre of St. Bartholomew.
Valence was the Roman Valentia, and a few relics of that age are in the Museum (open on Sundays and Thursdays, 1 to 4). The chief interest in the town is the cathedral, consecrated in 1095 by Pope Urban II. The building has, however,
Town Plan No. 27.—Valence.
undergone much restoration, and the tower and porch were rebuilt during the last century. The heart of Pius VI., who died at Valence in 1799 is buried in the cathedral, and there is a statue to his memory on the south side of the altar. When Napoleon invaded Italy in 1797, he sent General Berthier to Rome to proclaim a republic and demand of the Pope the renunciation of his temporal authority. His refusal to do so resulted in his being taken prisoner and removed from the Vatican to Florence, and then by stages through the Alps to Grenoble, and finally to Valence, where he died in captivity not far from Avignon, the former seat of Papal authority.
Outside the cathedral on the north side is the large tomb of the Mistral family, put up in 1548. It has a very flat dome and an inscription in a curious spiral form.
The richly ornamented house at No. 57 Grande Rue was built in 1531, and is called the Maison des Têtes, on account of the statues and busts, now much mutilated, which adorn the front and the corridor leading into a courtyard behind. Another interesting house is at No. 7 Rue Pérollerie, a Renaissance building ornamented with bas-reliefs.
THE ROAD TO ST. ÉTIENNE
One crosses the river by the suspension bridge on leaving Valence, and in St. Péray, which is chiefly interesting as the nearest place to the Château Crussol already mentioned, one turns sharply to the right for Tournon.
