“There are places where the spirit is blowing…” from The top of the hill of Sion-Vaudémont, the view embraces the earth and the heavens lorraine dear to Maurice Barrès. A promontory sacred, which has never ceased to attract the men, the Celts of yesterday to the christian pilgrims today. All around, the countryside of “les saintes” reserve of beautiful encounters.
“There are places that draw the soul from its lethargy, locations, wrapped, bathed in mystery, elected from all eternity to be the seat of the emotion of religion.” It is little to say that the hill of Sion-Vaudémont was powerfully inspired by Maurice Barrès. In The Hill inspired (1913), the writer lorrain sees it as the equivalent of the Mont-Saint-Michel, Vezelay or the forest of Brocéliande. A place where “the whole being is moved, from its deepest roots to its highest peaks”. Located 40 minutes south of Nancy, this low eminence in the shape of a horseshoe, hardly impresses. What is so mysterious the butte-witness, which rises painfully to 540 meters of altitude ?
A hill inspired
To let the “breath of the spirit” to operate, he must first admire the mirabelliers crooked and the white caps that cover the slopes of the hill. At its peak, the basilica of Sion orders a small set of buildings reserved for pilgrims. The building dates from the Eighteenth century, but the cult of the Virgin dates back to the Fourth century. Thousands of pilgrims go there several times a year, including The Assumption, to gather before the statue of Our Lady of Sion, exposed in the basilica. At the time pagans, the Celts celebrated already here their deities Rosmertha and Wotan. The convent adjacent to the basilica was founded by the duke of Lorraine, Francis II, on an ancient complex of gallo-roman of the Second century. It is here that in the Nineteenth century, the brothers Baillard, excommunicated for having joined the hérésiarque Eugène Vintras, and fought the clergy to the orders of the bishop of Nancy. This true story inspired Maurice Barrès Hill inspired, crossing sweeping lyricism on the Lorraine. The book had such an impact after the First world War there was erected a monument to the writer, at the summit of the signal de Vaudémont. Would he have liked this obelisk a little heavy, which stands the campaign of the Saintois ? The most beautiful panorama, is located on the way of the cross behind the basilica. Meadows, fields and boqueteaux lining harmoniously the plain up to the horizon.
The lair of the exotic to the old maréchalLe château de Thorey-Lyautey, a beautiful stage on the Road of the Marches of Lorraine, between Domrémy and the hill of Zion. Lorraine Tourisme
spur Saint-Joseph, the view goes up to Vaudémont, at the other end of the horseshoe. The counts of Vaudémont had fully fortified village around its castle. Of the armor stone, it remains only the tower Brunehaut. The great street of the village is not without charm, with its succession of doors charretières. But the “les saintes” is not limited to the hill of Zion. 6 km from here, a scent of distant colonies floating on the castle, marshal Lyautey was built at the end of his life, in the village of Thorey-Lyautey. The marshal lived in this prestigious mansion in the middle of his memories. Saddles for arabian horses and moukhalas rifles fantasia) alongside the 16,000-volume library. On the first floor, the living room of Indochina and Madagascar is full of treasures of the adventurer : leopard skin, throne of mandarin, carabiner clip in tortoise shell. Change of scenery guaranteed in the moroccan lounge where Lyautey, nostalgic about the country where he “reigned” almost 13 years, liked to welcome his guests in a setting of mashrabiya, zellige and burnous. The sultan Mohammed V had to feel like home when he visited the old marshal in 1934. The earth lorraine dear to Maurice Barrès seems quite remote in this place exotic. The two men knew each other. It is, moreover, Lyautey, who chooses the location of the monument Barrès on the hill. At his death in 1934, the inhabitants of Thorey obtained permission to add the name of their common that of Lyautey.
the Castle of Haroué, the ” Chambord lorraine “the castle of The Beauvau-Craon, said castle of Haroué or palace of Haroué, is a castle of the XVIIIᵉ century located in a small valley in the Saintois, in the south of Nancy. Lorraine Tourism / Photo press
nine kilometres away, the village of Vézelise has lost his brewery, whose beer was exported throughout the French colonial Empire (Lyautey was drunk maybe), but it still has beautiful halls, among the oldest in France. Nine little miles, and we reached Haroué, known for its castle. A “Chambord lorraine”, one reads everywhere. It is true that the architect Germain Boffran has seen large, designing the building such as a calendar : 365 windows, 52 chimneys, 12 towers and four bridges. All surrounded by a moat of water, a French garden and an English garden. The family of Beauvau-Craon has lived there for eight generations ! Four-poster beds and tapestries of the manufacture ducale, the woodwork gilded, chandelier Baccarat, iron railings wrought by Jean Lamour (the ferronnier grilles of place Stanislas)… and The circular room of the tour Pillement, decorated with chinoiserie in the Eighteenth century taste, is waiting for a marquise in crinoline. This is not the game of love and chance, but of opera in the open air as we played between the topiaries in the park in the summer. The high notes fly can be up to the hill of Sion-Vaudémont, even if it is in silence that feed there, the poor clares and the pilgrims.
www.lepredenancy.fr and tourisme-meurtheetmoselle.fr
The editorial team conseilleDépartements in the red zone, the Ardennes and Haut-Rhin fear a double punishment for the tourismeNos the most beautiful breakfast 2020 in the Ile-de-France and Nord-EstSujetslorraineNancyGrand EstMoselleFranceTourismebalade1 commentairemamybluesle 09/06/2020 at 08:55 pm
To Zion, the county council has invested in a building ? while there was already a small museum , council department, whose presidency is a socialist and this may be it : the expense, without counting , always the same .
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