"the Royal River" has a special place in the landscape and the architectural, historical and cultural heritage of France and Philately never failed to celebrate the Loire and its affluents through its bridges, whether it is on the stamps or the postal cancellations...
 Click in the list of the cities, or on a place,  on one of the three maps (red points)
(NB: All the points aren't activated)



The Committee of the world Inheritance (UNESCO), joined together into December 2, 2000 in Australia, officially classified with the world Inheritance of humanity the "Loire Valley" under "cultural landscapes"  in its part included between  Sully-sur-Loire ( East of Loiret) and Bouchemaine (Angers/ Maine-et-Loire), that is to say approximately 250 km and a zone of 745 km2. and according to the three following criteria:
Criterion (I): The Loire Valley is remarkable for the quality of its architectural heritage, with its historical cities such as Blois, Chinon, Orleans, Saumur and Tours, but more particularly for its castles of world fame, like that of Chambord.
 Criterion (II): The Loire Valley is an exceptional cultural landscape along a large river.
It carries testimony on an exchange of influences of human values and on the harmonious development of interactions between the men and their environment, over two thousand years of history.
Criterion (iv): The landscape of  the Loire Valley and   more particularly , its many cultural monuments,  illustrates at an exceptional degree the ideals of the Renaissance and century of the Lights on the thought and the creation of Western Europe. ...