The Drugstore Tower

As you get closer to this charming round tower, it’s hard to imagine that you’re looking at one of the oldest surviving medieval landmarks in Saint-Étienne. This is the Tour de la Droguerie, the only remnant of the city walls that once surrounded the town in the 14th century. Back then, it formed part of the Porte du Furan, a strategic gateway leading to the Outre-Furan suburb which, as the name suggests, lay beyond the fortified city. The tower was part of a complete defensive system, walls, moats, six other towers, and a drawbridge. Today, all of that is gone, but there’s still a clue. Look to your right: Rue des Fossés follows the exact line where the fortifications once stood. This is where the moats ran, before being filled in over the centuries. The name “Tour de la Droguerie” only dates back to the 19th century, taken from a shop that once stood at its base selling cleaning supplies, pigments, soaps, and popular remedies. That traditional business, still around today, ended up lending its name to the monument. The tower escaped demolition during the major 19th-century renovations and still preserves its thick walls, arrow slits, and the graceful pepper-pot roof added later for decoration. Imagine the sounds of the medieval city here: clogs on the cobblestones, merchants calling out their wares, the creak of the drawbridge… a small piece of old Saint-Étienne still standing proud.