Colline de la Motte et chapelle Notre-Dame-de-la-Motte

Vesoul

Vesoul was born at the foot of its Motte, and the hill tells the whole history of the town. In the 10th century a castle crowned this limestone peak; it was destroyed in 1595, during the wars that ravaged the Franche-Comté. Vines then covered the slopes, so precious that a metal-clad cross was raised at the summit to protect the vineyard from lightning. Then came the terrible year: in 1854, cholera swept down on Vesoul. The inhabitants vowed to raise a chapel to the Virgin if the town were spared. The epidemic receded, and the people of Vesoul kept their word: the chapel of Notre-Dame-de-la-Motte was built from 1854–1855 and inaugurated on 9 August 1857, at the end of a building campaign in which the whole town carried stones and materials to the summit. Since then the entire hill has become an open-air sanctuary: a Way of the Cross marked by stone stations, a statue of Saint Michael, a grotto dedicated to the Virgin. A fire destroyed the chapel in 1967; it was rebuilt the same year, proof that Vesoul cannot imagine its skyline without it. Inside, a great Virgin 3.5 metres tall keeps watch. People still climb in procession on Good Friday and on 15 August — and for the rest of the year for the panorama, which on a clear day stretches to the Vosges, the Jura and the Alps. Forty minutes of climbing, and a vow of 1854 still kept.

Getting there : Ascent on foot only, from old Vesoul (about 40 minutes, more than a kilometre of climbing), along a Way of the Cross marked by stone stations; car park halfway up; free access to the summit, orientation table.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound