Pierre Percée de Pierre-Châtel

Pierre-Châtel

On the colline des Creys, above the lac de Pierre-Châtel, the Pierre Percée is a natural arch of cargneule, a Triassic limestone rock sculpted by erosion, about three metres high under its vault. Listed as a picturesque site by decree of 4 April 1911, it has been known since the Middle Ages and the Dauphinois Denys de Salvaing de Boissieu cites it in 1656 in his Septem Miracula Delphinatus, his ‘seven wonders of the Dauphiné’. Seen from afar, the rock evokes a crouching monster, a dragon lying on its front paws. The most widespread legend, reported by the DREAL, tells that a jester, having made a pact with the devil and tried to trick him, was hurled by Satan against the hill and remained petrified on all fours, a hump on his back. A local version passed on by the Matheysine tourist office features the constable de Lesdiguières: to enclose his game, he is said to have sold his soul to Satan in exchange for a wall around his château of Vizille, to be finished before his return on horseback; he leapt the wall at the last stone and the devil, furious, sent his servant to crash on the hill, where he turned to stone. A storyteller sees in it the ear of a giantess, and some say that the rays of the solstice pass through the arch. No rite is described.

Getting there: Free access, on communal land. From Pierre-Châtel: about 2 km round trip and 270 m of climb; from La Motte-d'Aveillans: loop of about 6 km. The DREAL sheet speaks of 2.4 km from the car park of the cemetery of Pierre-Châtel. Coordinates: OpenStreetMap, cross-checked with Wikipedia EN.

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

Ambient sound