Chêne avaleur de Vierges de Bresilley

Bresilley

This old pedunculate oak owes its nickname of "swallower of Virgins" to a local devotion that remained alive until the end of the 20th century: every year, on the feast of the Assumption, a blessed statuette of the Virgin was placed in a notch in the trunk during a procession. As the bark gradually closed over the wound, each figurine was engulfed by the tree's growth within some forty years; eight statuettes are said to have been absorbed in this way over the generations. The last recorded procession dates from 15 August 1988, and one statuette remains partly visible in the trunk. Local tradition also credits the tree with a visit by King Louis XI between 1470 and 1475, without formal historical confirmation. Still tended and cabled, it stands in the immediate vicinity of the Cistercian abbey of Acey.

Getting there : by the roadside between Bresilley and Bard-lès-Pesmes, near the abbey of Notre-Dame d'Acey; free access

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

Ambient sound