Chemins de la Liberté – The Path to Freedom: Vassieux
Vassieux-en-Vercors

Chemins de la Liberté – The Path to Freedom: Vassieux

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On this walk you will discover the village of Vassieux, which paid a heavy price during the Vercors fighting. You can then climb higher along the path that once linked the village to Resistance camp No. 6 during World War II. This route, which is quite difficult, goes up through the box trees to the Memorial to the Resistance in the Vercors. It’s an effort that is rewarded with breathtaking views of the surrounding peaks.
Explore an iconic site in the history of the Vercors beginning in the village before climbing up high. From up above there are panoramic views of the Vercors mountain range and plain, the scene of violent clashes in 1944.

3 points of interest

  • Vassieux church

    The church of Vassieux-en-Vercors was not spared during the bombing raids of World War II, and the bell tower is all that remains of the old building. The new church adjoining the bell tower (the only preserved edifice) was designed by the architect Pierre Myassard. The choir was reoriented to the west during the rebuilding work, and the decorative style was executed by the painters Aujame, Humblot and Borgès, the Grenoble glassmaker Montfallet and the sculptor Emile Gilioli. The painting of the choir was replaced by an altarpiece by the artist Carmelo Zagari; two stained-glass windows and the altar were designed by Jean-Marc-Cérino. The altar, which is made from Tavel stone, houses the relics of Edith Stein, a German Jew who became a Carmelite and died while being deported to Auschwitz in 1942.

  • Departmental Museum of the Resistance

    The museum, which was founded by an old member of the Resistance, was renovated in its entirety in 2010. The museum tour is dotted with rich collections, connecting the revived history of the maquis and the rebuilding with the first-hand accounts of its founder. The tour is interspersed with a lavish collection of objects from the period and tactile terminals, and is structured around three themes: The Vercors before the Vercors, which presents the local and international context from 1918 to 1942; The Vercors Maquis, which contextualises the history of the Maquis from late 1942 to August 1944; and The Vercors after the Vercors, which details the post-war period, the reconstruction of the Vercors, commemorations and memorial buildings.

  • Memorial architecture walk

    From the car park at Col de la Chau, various information points explain the aims and ideas of the architects who designed the building that houses the Mémorial de la Résistance.

    Information point 1: The geography of Vassieux; why choose to build the Memorial here?

    Information point 2: The look-outs: chimney stacks on the roof of the Memorial

    Information point 3: The different phases of the project

    Information point 4: The potency of the architecture

    Information point 5: The link with Camp 6

Description

  1. Starting from Vassieux-en-Vercors, head towards the Departmental Museum of the Resistance behind the church in the direction of Les Cheneaux. The bell tower is all that remains of the old building following the bombing raids of 1944.
  2. Take the signposted route (GR 95), walk behind Le Piroulet holiday village, then follow the road that crosses the entrance to the hamlet of Moulin Allard on the left.
  3. Now walk along the signposted path that climbs up on the left, indicated by an information panel, in the direction of Col de la Chau. The path rises after the old quarry along a steep slope to the Memorial to the Resistance in the Vercors. From here you can take the steps that go to Col de la Chau to follow the architecture trail, an outdoor exhibition about the Memorial’s contemporary architecture. You can get even more out of the walk with a visit to the Memorial (put aside two or so hours).
  4. The return journey follows the same route towards Vassieux-en-Vercors.
  • Departure : Vassieux-en-Vercors
  • Arrival : Vassieux-en-Vercors
  • Towns crossed : Vassieux-en-Vercors and Bouvante

Forecast

Altimetric profile

Recommandations

Use the purpose-built throughways to cross fences; shut gates and barriers behind you.

Keeping to the signposted paths means you'll respect private property.

Be careful: the steep path that goes up to the Mémorial de la Résistance can be tricky in rainy weather and in late winter.

Information desks

Place Pietri, 26 420 La Chapelle-en-Vercors

http://www.vercors-drome.com/info@vercors-drome.com04 75 48 22 54

Access and parking

Parking :

the village of Vassieux

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