La Ville-aux-Dames

The rooting of the girouet, or weather vane, in the history of Loire residents has won it selection as a symbol of Loire towns' and villages' kinship with the Loire Valley World Heritage – all of which have a personalised weather vane. Reliant on the wind to sail up the Loire, boatmen of the past were proud of their weather vanes, attached at the top of the barge masts.