Le Donon et son temple des Vosges

Grandfontaine

The Donon is a plateau of pink sandstone set at 1,008 m, from which one sees the plain of Alsace, the Black Forest, the Vosges and the Lorraine plateau. From the Neolithic it served as a refuge; polished axes, Bronze Age potsherds and Hallstatt-period querns have been picked up here. The summit marked the meeting point of three Gaulish peoples, the Mediomatrici, the Triboci and the Leuci, and its name comes from the Gaulish dunum, the fortified height. Between the late 1^st and the late 3^rd century, a sanctuary of four stone buildings and a circular wooden structure, near a well, received pilgrims: the stelae show Mercury with caduceus and purse, a Mercury 'Vogesus' named after the mountain, a god with a stag, and dedications to Jupiter, Taranis and Hecate; the corner stones of one building each bore a carved head. This material is in the archaeological museum of Strasbourg. In 1869, Dr Bédel, the cantonal physician, had a small temple with four monolithic pillars roofed with corbelled slabs erected at the highest point, to the plans of the Colmar architect Louis-Michel Boltz, to house the finds; the State listed it in 1898, then the whole summit in 1934. The great excavation of 1938, under Jean-Jacques Hatt, established what is known of the sanctuary.

Wikipédia — Donon ↗

Getting there : By the D 392, which links the Bruche valley to the Plaine valley, as far as the Col du Donon (car park). From there, waymarked paths of the Club Vosgien; a 4.2 km discovery trail, allow an hour of fairly steep climbing, or the gentler old forest road, passable with a pushchair. The summit, its viewpoint indicator and the temple are freely accessible all year round, snow lying in winter; the interior of the temple is not open to visitors.

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

Ambient sound