This guided tour focuses on the particular role played by women in the Valognes of the Enlightenment. As astute sponsors, they helped to shape its physiognomy by directing the construction of many private mansions. Involved in the social and intellectual life of the city, they also contributed to the cultural influence of the small aristocratic capital of Clos du Cotentin. However, subject to the particularly restrictive frameworks that governed their lives, they did not escape the pressure or violence that the society of their time exerted on them.