Vignieu brings together architectural and religious history with a natural area whose landscape was also shaped by past sand extraction. If you enjoy discovering the different traces a place has left over time when you travel, you will find points of interest here ranging from a 19th-century church to threatened habitats. Each religious site tells its own story and is associated with processions.
Church of Saint-Blaise and Village History
The Church of Saint-Blaise has two successive dates in its construction history: the church was built between 1877 and 1879, and the bell tower was added in 1888 to plans by the architect Chamberot. Its distinctive architectural features include a tall bell-tower porch topped with a glazed-tile spire. This makes it possible to distinguish the later construction of the tower from the period when the church was built.
Smaller structures also tell the story of the village. The Lavoir du Munard was built in 1880 at the intersection of Rue de l’Étang and Rue de Beauvenir. The Fontaine Geneste is one of six fountains built in the village centre to supplement three older fountains. The Château de Chapeau Cornu offers another historical perspective: it was originally a fortified house on the site of a former Roman camp.
Chapelle des Ayes and Notre-Dame-des-Bois
The Chapelle des Ayes was built on the hill of the same name, at a site where a local resident named Teillon reported having a vision of the Virgin Mary on 25 March 1793. For the residents of Vignieu and the surrounding villages, the chapel is a pilgrimage site. A procession takes place there every year on Easter Monday. The specific date preserved in the account and the recurring religious observance give this place its own historical and spiritual significance.
Another procession leads to the statue of Notre-Dame-des-Bois, which watches over the village from the heights above it. Former families of the Pradel estate erected the statue in the 19th century. Every year on 15 August, a procession goes there to ask for protection. Those exploring Vignieu’s religious sites can therefore distinguish between two different occasions in the annual calendar: the procession at the chapel on Easter Monday and the visit to the statue in August.
Les MĂ©moires: Dune Landscape and Habitats
Les Mémoires reveals another side of Vignieu. The site of the sandy dune is listed as “Petit Site Naturel” PSN023 in the Isère Department’s Espaces Naturels Sensibles network; it was designated in February 2014. The natural area includes a pond, a reed bed and a fen. These habitats are classified as threatened in the Red Book of Isère Habitats. The focus here is therefore both on the site’s special designation and on its specific habitat types.
The landscape also tells the story of how it was used. Sand extraction in the 1980s and 1990s created a sand cliff at Les MĂ©moires, making it possible for a colony of bee-eaters to settle there. In comparison with the protected wetland habitats, this illustrates two different aspects of the natural environment: the diversity of the habitats mentioned and the formation of the sand cliff through past extraction.
Create Your Own Piece
If you would like to include hands-on activities alongside local history and nature in your travel plans, Les Ateliers d’Isa offers open workshops. Participants can make their own wooden bowl or piece of stained glass. Arrange your workshop with the craftswoman. This practical activity adds a creative element of your own to visits to historical sites and explorations of the landscape.
Discover More Destinations
Discover more destinations: Laval, Cholonge, Siccieu-Saint-Julien-Et-Carisieu, Saint-Savin, Bernin, Auberives-Sur-Varèze, Cheyssieu, Assieu.
For the overview of the wider area: Isere.
