Mont Prorel et chapelle Notre-Dame-des-Neiges de Puy-Saint-Pierre

Puy-Saint-Pierre

Above Briançon, a promontory below the summit of the Prorel carries a white chapel at more than 2,200 m. According to the legend, around 1710 a shepherdess of Puy-Saint-Pierre was minding her flock on the alp when her mount bolted; she promised the Virgin to raise a chapel if she were saved. The animal stopped, and the chapel was built. Another version, told on the Hautes Vallées website, speaks of a woman named Marie, seven months pregnant, whose donkey bolts; the materials carried up for the chapel are said to have been found at the summit the next day, borne by guardian angels. These tales are traditions, not established facts. The present chapel was built in 1751 by the inhabitants, 200 m from the first, then enlarged in 1829 with a nave and a gallery so that people could sleep there; it was restored in 1904, 1951 and 1966. It belongs to the commune, which elects a procurator each year to look after it. Each July about a hundred people climb up to celebrate Notre-Dame des Neiges, and since the Second World War the priest of Briançon has said mass there on Tuesdays from the second Sunday of July to the second Sunday of September.

Getting there: Communal chapel freely accessible (free visit, all year depending on snow cover). One climbs on foot by the chemin des oratoires (six oratories) from Puy-Saint-Pierre, or in summer by the Prorel gondola from Briançon, then on foot. Coordinates: official heritage sheet of the Hautes-Alpes (44.897335; 6.590246).

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

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