Colline de Sion-Vaudémont, la « colline inspirée »

Saxon-Sion

A long limestone crescent standing alone in the middle of the Saintois plain, the hill of Sion-Vaudémont is the most concentrated place of memory in Lorraine, occupied without interruption since antiquity and devoted to the Virgin since the early Middle Ages, under the patronage of Saint Gérard of Toul. From 1626 the Tiercelin friars developed here a Marian sanctuary that became the great pilgrimage of Lorraine, before the friary was abandoned in 1792. After 1870 the hill remained a great gathering place: 30,000 pilgrims came together here in 1873, and on 8 September 1946, 80,000 people gathered here around a marble cross bearing the Lorraine motto. In the meantime the hill had lived through its strangest episode: the adventure of the Baillard brothers, Lorraine priests who revived the pilgrimage under the July Monarchy and then slid into dissidence by rallying to the visionary prophet Pierre-Michel Vintras, until their break with the Church. It was from this affair that Maurice Barrès drew La Colline inspirée in 1913, whose opening sentence — "Il est des lieux où souffle l'esprit" ("There are places where the spirit breathes") — has lastingly fixed the site's reputation; a monument has been dedicated to him since 23 September 1928. Visitors still hunt here for the "stars of Sion", tiny fossil crinoid segments from the Mesozoic era, long gathered as lucky charms, especially around the cross of Sainte-Marguerite.

Colline de Sion — Wikipédia ↗

Getting there : 35 km south of Nancy by the D913 and then the D53; car park in the village of Sion, at the foot of the basilica (4 rue Notre-Dame). Free admission to the basilica; the former friary has been turned into a visitor centre and museum. From there, a ridge path of about 4 km leads to the Barrès monument and then to the hilltop village of Vaudémont; 360° panorama over the Saintois. Coordinates taken on the basilica plateau.

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

Ambient sound