La Bataille

This chapel was built in 1649 by inhabitants, to fulfil a vow that they had made to escape the plague. It is a modest, vaulted structure, with a square tower serving as a bell tower (ref.: Le Rousset dictionary).

At its foot, the village of the same name; and from south to north: the cliffs of Surmontant, the valley of Bienne, Lizon, Lavans-lès-Saint-Claude, Saint-Lupicin, Cuttura and Ravilloles. Stop and strain your ears. It is said that from here you can hear rumours from villages 2 kilometres away as the crow flies.

At the foot of the Plan d’Acier’s high cliffs is the Bienne, imprisoned in this boxed-in location in the valley by the Étables dam. Since 1932, when it was first put to use, this dam has fed the electrical plant in Porte Sachet through a penstock pipe dug under the Truffet, the strange sugar loaf that overlooks one of the Bienne’s bends.

At the turn of the century, the peregrine falcon was known to nest in all regions offering suitable rocky environments, with cliffs being its favourite nesting place. The département of the Jura alone was home to around 60 couples during the 1940s. But their population soon declined and dropped to only 3 couples in 1968. Thanks to efforts to protect the species (awareness, biotope protection order), their numbers have now improved and there are now around 50 couples within the High-Jura Park.

In Avignon, it all starts with a bridge... In the 13th century, the abbot of Saint-Claude called on the Pontiff brothers, a congregation of stonemasons from the region of Avignon in the Vaucluse department, to build two bridges over the Bienne: the Saint-Claude bridge and the Avignon bridge. The latter can be seen from the “pont des Pierres” that links “place du Truchet” to the “avenue de la Gare”.