The best walks and hikes around Saulxures-Lès-Vannes

Invisible

Joan of Arc was a resistance fighter during the Hundred Years' War, an armed conflict between England and France. She is venerated as the Maid of Orleans in France. It is said that Joan was a very young, small woman dressed in men's clothing with short hair. From an early age, she was guided by divine voices. In 1431, she was sentenced to death for witchcraft and burned at the stake at the age of just 19. In 1920, she was canonized by the Pope. Statues, monuments, and museums in her honor can be found throughout the country.

Gothic-style Catholic church, built in the 13th century and expanded several times over the centuries. Joan of Arc, who left a strong mark on this region, was baptized here in 1412.

At this location is currently the grouping of three statues facing the current village: the Virgin, Sainte-Marguerite and Sainte-Jeanne d'Arc. It was in the 17th century that the old village was destroyed like many other villages in Lorraine. France and the Holy Roman Empire had entered into the 30 Years' War (1618-1648) and were competing for the independent Duchy of Lorraine.

The Bermont chapel was probably founded in the 12th century by the Benedictine abbey of Bourgueil, near Angers. In the 13th century, it was attached to the Gerbonvaux hospice and served as a hermitage. According to tradition, Joan of Arc went almost every Saturday to the Notre-Dame de Bermont chapel. During the Revolution, the chapel threatened to fall into ruin and the hermits' accommodation was largely destroyed. Since 1992, the Notre-Dame de Bermont Association has been restoring the site. In 1998, wall frescoes dating from the Johannine era (15th century) were discovered in the chapel. The chapel has been included in the supplementary inventory of historical monuments "as a testimony to the Johannine epic".

The 33 hectares of limestone lawns are located on a plateau above the village of Maxey-sur-Meuse. The limestone nature of the rock allows rapid infiltration of rainwater and runoff, thus giving the surface a certain dryness. These hot and dry conditions explain the presence of specific insects, reptiles and birds, as well as Mediterranean flora composed of aromatic plants and wild orchids, rare in Lorraine.

As early as the 4th century BC, a Celtic tribe populated southern Lorraine. It settled in alluvial valleys and on limestone plateaus. We know that Soulosse-sous-St-Elophe and Moncel-sur-Vair, neighboring towns, were strongholds of this tribe. Furthermore, in old representations, we can see a Celtic cross at the top of the Chapel bell tower. During its restoration in 1875, this cross would have been placed at the foot of the Chapel. The origin of this cross remains uncertain. (Information on panel)

The music group OMD (Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark) dedicated a song to JEANNE d'ARC, known in German-speaking countries as "Johanna von Orleans", the patron saint of France (1412? to 1431): "Maid of Orleans" . The song, which was number 1 in Germany for several weeks, can be found on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmwMhjbThKg