Saint-Loup-de-Varennes (, literally Saint-Loup of Varennes) is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. The commune is home to the world's oldest surviving image in the world, View from the Window at Le Gras. The image was first taken in 1826.

Geography

It is 6 km south of the centre of Chalon-sur-Saône.

Historical significance

Nicéphore Niépce, the inventor of photography, lived in Saint-Loup-de-Varennes, where he died in 1833. Most or all of his photographs, including one taken in 1827 and now the oldest known surviving camera photograph, were made at Le Gras, his ancestral family estate in this village.