On June 21, 1791, Louis XVI. and his suite, in their flight from Paris, halted here late at night to enquire the way.
Varennes
Enter the upper town by the Rue des Religieuses (or Rue de l’Hôtel-de-Ville). The first house on the right is the Maison de Préfontaine (photo above), which is still as it was when, on June 21, 1791, at 11 o’clock at night, Louis XVI. and his suite, in their flight from Paris, knocked at the door to ask their way.
On the other side of the street is the Place du Château, where there are some German soldiers’ graves.
The Rue de la Basse-Cour—a continuation of the Rue des Religieuses—crosses the Place du Marché (photo below) in which stands, on the left, the ruined house of Sauce, the grocer, Procureur of the Commune, in which Louis XVI. passed the night. This house, formerly No. 28, had, until the war, remained much as it was in 1791.
VARENNES. PLACE DU MARCHÉ AND RUE DE LA BASSE-COUR, NEAR THE BRIDGE