Search all museums

The parish church of Saint-Maurice, built in 1643 and extended in 1896, reveals the ancient origins of the bell-tower from the Romanesque period, which was probably built around the XI century.

The semicircular apse remains of the ancient church where it is possible to admire the remarkable frescoes attributed to the workshop of Giacomino da Ivrea, made around 1430.
At the center of the basin, Christ Pantocrator in mandorla surrounded by the symbols of the four evangelists. On the left side, the figure of Saint Maurice on horseback and the coats of arms of Bishop Oger Moriset, who commissioned the pictorial cycle, and of William of Monthey, prior of Sainte-Hélène, on whom the parish church of Sarre depended until 1573. On the piers of the arch triumphal, on the left, the Man of Sorrows (Ecce Homo), on the right, the prophet Micah, Saint Simon and fragments of figures of apostles and prophets.

Over time, the church underwent substantial changes, especially at the end of the 19th century, when on the initiative of the parish priest Thomas Lale Murix of Saint-Pierre it was lengthened by 5 meters and raised by approximately 1.20 metres.

In the premises of the museum of sacred art of the church of Saint-Maurice, objects of sacred art are kept, such as wooden sculptures, jewelery and fabrics, which come from the chapels of Ville-sur-Sarre, Bellun, Champé as well as from the church itself.
The exhibition is full of pieces of great artistic value. Among the most valuable works:

• the colored wooden statue of Saint Maurice on horseback, from the early 15th century, in walnut, by the sculptor from Moron (Saint-Vincent), one of the rare non-pedestrian representations of the Saint;
• the splendid painted wooden statue of Swiss-German sculpture (perhaps Lucerne), from the 14th-15th century, unique among the Pietàs in the Aosta Valley for its verticality;
• among the goldsmith objects, dating from the 14th to the 17th century, three processional crosses and numerous finely crafted gilded silver chalices and three reliquaries, one from the priory of Sainte-Hélène-de-Sinçod in gilded copper.

See the 360° image of the interior here

The museum, situated in the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception, communicating with the San Martin parish church, offers different interesting details:

• a rare Christ on the column, which can be dated back to around the middle of the 14th century;

• a Saint James (unfortunately damaged) from the middle of the 15th century, attributed to the same author of the Saint Maurice of Moron (St-Vincent) and the great Saint Christopher of Saint-Étienne (Aosta);

• a Holy Bishop from the 14th century, accompanied by two altar boys: this is probably the group that decorated the church’s high altar in the 14th and 15th centuries;

• a Madonna and Child and Saints James and Martin, patron saints of the church. These are the most precious works in the museum, dating back at the start of the 16th century, and probably coming from an altar which had to replace the pre-existing one. The three sculptures are from the German school and were propably created in the workshop of Jorg Lederer, sculptor from Allgau, active throughout the first half of the 16th century in Swabia and the Tyrol area.

The territory known as Petit-Monde includes the two villages of Triatel and Étirol, that have maintained the typical inhabited mountain landscape.
In the village of Triatel there is an interesting ethnographical museum located inside traditional rural buildings.

A racard, or granary which is to find nowhere else in the Valley, a grandze, or rural building and a hayloft, built between 1462 and 1700, restored and displayed in a very original fashion, bear witness to a past that might otherwise be forgotten.
The tour begins on the bottom floor of the granary, with the permanent exhibition entitled “The Labyrinth of Memory”, which tells the true story of Man, the origin and evolution of the village, the life and social organisation of the inhabitants of this little corner of the past.
The texts of the exhibition, accompanied by Francesco Corni’s drawings, summarise the local history, and are easy to follow even for children.
As visitors take a look around the numerous inside rooms, the “tsé” and “tzambron”, they can build up a realistic picture of the hard lives led by the local people in the past, governed by the slow rhythm of the work in the fields. The silence brings memories and imagination alive, and visitors can almost hear the ancient sounds of the village, smell the hay and the wheat and the animals. Every day in the summer, the museum “square” is filled with visitors chatting away just like the local mountain folk, and the museum becomes no longer a place to recall the past, but a lively, bustling present.
The tour ends with a visit to the mill, just a short distance away on the Petit Monde torrent.

How to get there
In order to fully appreciate the place, the museum and the surrounding nature, it is advisable to walk to the museum, so you can admire the splendid views over Torgnon, the Valtournenche and the Matterhorn.

The place can easily be reached on foot, although it is also accessible by car, along the same narrow asphalt road, popular with walkers, about 1.8 km long.

Stretching towards the French region of Tarentaise, Valgrisenche offers visitors a panorama of the surrounding mountains peaks and glaciers. Over the centuries, this has been the scene of border disputes, wars, divisions between so-called “enemy” states, as well as the land of man’s common struggle for dignity and freedom. At the end of the second world war, this land became a place for exchange and solidarity, a reference point and symbol of a newfound European unity.

The photographic and documentary exhibition on the Resistance at the documentation centre is testimony to the contacts and relationships between the populations that live on either side of the Alps. The exhibition is enriched with multimedia elements which, through photographs and interviews underline the role and importance of Col du Mont, lying between Valgrisenche and Tarentaise, from the French Revolution to the Resistance movement of the Second World War.

The documentation centre building is well-suited to the themes dealt with: the vieux quartier is a recently restored fortress dating back to the end of the 19th century, devised as a control and defence station between Valgrisenche and Tarentaise. Its function was a determining factor for its architecture and its austere appearance.

Set up in the parish church, the Valgrisenche sacred art museum preserves and exhibits a significant collection of the rich heritage of furnishings belonging to the church itself and to many chapels of the valley.

Numerous wooden statues come from the chapels abandoned in the 1950s following the construction of a large dam in the upper part of the valley, recently downsized for safety reasons.

In the main display case, the sculptural group of the Virgin enthroned with the Child stands out, dating back to the end of the 14th century, belonging to the furnishings of the ancient parish church, built after 1392, the year the parish was founded, and consecrated in 1417. The two angels candle holders from the Prariond chapel can be dated to the first quarter of the fifteenth century.

The four wooden statues of the Aosta Valley saints Anselm, Giocondo, Orso and Bernard date back to the Baroque period and were originally part of the main altar built in 1679. Alongside these in the display case are other sculptures of saints, dating back to the 17th-18th centuries, coming from the chapels of the valley and in particular from those that no longer exist such as Surrier, Usellières and Fornet. Stylistically homogeneous is the group of statues created by the Valsesian artist Giovanni Comoletti for the Mondanges chapel at the end of the nineteenth century.

Expressions of Marian devotion are the sculptures placed in the window case to the right of the entrance, including a very delicate sixteenth-century Pietà and the evocative image of the Assumption of the Virgin from the Fornet chapel.

The central display case shows the processional objects.
The most ancient processional cross can be dated to the end of the 13th century (therefore preceding the establishment of the parish).
The cross placed in the centre dates back to 1440-1450 with the figures of the Virgin and Saint John at the sides of Christ at the ends of the arms and on the back the symbols of the evangelists arranged around the central bezel. The latter was embellished with a small illuminated parchment dating back to around 1470-1480, depicting the Madonna and Child, probably added in a later period.
The tubular shape distinguishes the third cross, an imported work most likely coming from Flanders, dating back to between the end of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th century.

The devotional and liturgical jewellery is presented in a dedicated display case, including four precious metal foil boxes, intended for the conservation and display of the relics to the faithful. Fragments of the body of San Grato, patron saint of the parish, were kept both in the box reliquary dating back to the second half of the 15th century, and in that datable to the first quarter of the following century, decorated with golden plaques with the figures of the Virgin and the saints Grato and Giocondo.

Finally, the furnishings of the church and chapels include a series of sacred vases, including a monstrance, a pyx and various chalices, dated to the last quarter of the 17th century and assignable to silversmiths' workshops operating in the neighbouring French territories.

Since the dawn of time, the inhabitants of the Valgrisenche have devoted themselves to the typical trade of the valley: the weaving of “drap”. This rustic fabric, initially only in a few colours, is made of sheep’s wool using the antique “métiers” (looms).
Today drap comes in a considerable variety of shades and patterns, mainly geometrical. The fabric is in great demand for furnishing, because it is hard wearing, durabile and boasts the particular warmth that is characteristic of all craft products.

*“Drap: the textile soul of a community”
Group visits may be booked for this permanent exhibition, set up in the Vieux Quartier multi-purpose hall in 2009 to celebrate the Cooperative’s 40th anniversary.
Through pictures, objects and the recollections of the people of the Valgrisenche , the exhibition attempts to illustrate the various aspects of a skill handed down through the generations, which has engaged whole families in a trade that in the 1950s was at risk of disappearing for good.
A publication on the exhibition is available.

The church was built in 1722. It has three naves divided up by stone monolithic columns.

INTERESTING DETAILS:
-the stone portal with carved paneled doorway, surmounted by a wooden statute of the patron Saint Pantaleon, which took the place of the original 18th century one, which has now been restored and is housed in the small museum inside the same church.
- the main altar and the balustrades date back to the 18th century and are a gift from count Perrone, the owner of the mines of Ollomont at the time. The same count is said to have also donated the canvas above the main altar, a painting from the Flemish school showing the virgin and the saints chosen as the protectors of the parish during the various eras.
- the baptistery with the stone bath dating back to the 15th century.
- the wooden pulpit with carved panels from the 18th century
- the small museum on the right hand side of the entrance houses various objects of sacred art of significant historical value.

The bell tower, which was also built in 1722, was originally fitted with eight bells, but Napoleon Bonapart removed five of them to melt them down and transform them into cannons.

The visitors centre is a museum dedicated to Fontina, illustrating its history and production and the particular aspects of this unique DOP cheese.

The centre has two floors and an exhibition area divided into three sections:“History”, “The Environment”, “Processing” and a small space dedicated to Val d’Aosta crafts.

The video room seats 50 and you can see an exhaustive film, available in Italian, French, English and German, showing giving details of all the phases of production of Fontina.
The visit to the museum and the centre includes the spectacular Fontina seasoning rooms dug out of the rock, one of which was dug out of the ancient copper mine and where the Fontina DOP remains for 80 days and takes its sweet and inimitable taste.

The centre also has a multimedia station and a shop.

How to get there:
- from the Milan / Turin-Aosta motorway, follow the directions for Gran San Bernardo. At the exit of the tunnel continue towards Bionaz.
- from Aosta follow the signs for the Gran San Bernardo. Once in Variney continue towards Bionaz
subsequently, past the center of Valpelline, follow the signs indicating the Visitor Center on the road to Ollomont.

Over the centuries, the Alps have been a place of refuge and hospitality. During the second world war, a time of fierce racial and political persecution, the Valpelline valley was swept with a large number of people fleeing to the neutral territory of Switzerland.

The Valpelline documentation centre valorises and promotes the relations between Val d’Aosta and Switzerland in the 1943-1945 period. A photographic and document exhibition reveals the routes taken by numerous fleeing Jews and various political activists hostile to the regime. Numerous politicians in the 1943-1945 period took refuge in Switzerland during the most dangerous period of struggle against the Nazi-fascist regime. Alta Valpelline was rife with famous personalities of Val d’Aosta and Italian intellectual and political life. Luigi Einaudi, who would become President of the Italian Republic in 1948, passed through Valpelline to take refuge in Switzerland.

The exhibition is enriched with a multimedia documentary of photographs, interviews and texts taking you along the route itinerary taken by Bréan, Bougeat, Berthod, famous Valdostan activists against the Nazi-fascist regime, fleeing towards Switzerland after the arrest and death of their guide and leader, Emile Chanoux.

The museum is housed in the hamlet of Dégioz, in the two big rooms of the Sala d’Arte Giovanni Calipari.
It displays objects, tools, clothes and photographs concerning the traditional lifestyle of the Alpine populations, and particularly those of Valsavarenche.