Butte de Mousson

Mousson

An outlier hill detached from the Lorraine plateau, the hill of Mousson raises its 382 metres above the Moselle, keeping watch over the old trade route that already linked the valleys in Roman times. Between 1040 and 1073, Louis I of Mousson and his wife Sophie of Bar built a fortress here which became, in the 12th and 13th centuries, the principal residence of the counts of Bar: an enclosure some hundred metres on each side, ramparts ten metres high, a keep nicknamed the "Grosse Tour" which blew up in 1492. Passed to the dukes of Lorraine in 1480, the stronghold endured the siege of 1633 during the Thirty Years' War, before Richelieu ordered its dismantling in 1634; the site was wholly listed as a monument historique as early as 1932. In the village survives a late Romanesque chapel known as the "Templars' chapel", an original building studied by archaeologists, while a modern Chapelle de Lumière has replaced the castle chapel on the summit, where a statue of the Virgin keeps watch. Local tradition holds that in clear weather the eye takes in all four departments of Lorraine: the panorama runs from the Côtes de Moselle to the Saulnois country and as far as Metz. Stretches of wall, a grassy esplanade and the old fortified village make the hill a walk steeped in eight centuries of history.

Getting there : Road up to the village of Mousson (rue de la Chapelle); car park then summit esplanade, free access; footpaths from Pont-à-Mousson

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

Ambient sound