1. From La Grave to the Pic du Mas de la Grave refuge

8 points of interest

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  Architecture

  Notre-Dame de l’Assomption Church

  Listed as an historic monument, Notre Dame de l'Assomption church towers over La Grave. In First Romanesque style, this remarkable building is thought to date from the 11th century, making it the oldest building in the town. All around the church is a cemetery with graves marked by wooden crosses and decorated with brass hearts, facing the giants of ice.

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  Vernacular heritage

  La Grave terraces

  On the south-facing slope of La Grave, terraced farmland and villages are inseparable. This is a European-wide landscape uniting many architectural, archaeological and natural elements. This mountain farming system was shaped mainly by past and present agricultural activity. The steep terrain at the time required terracing for it to be farmed. These former planted terraces are today natural meadowland, which is mowed or used for grazing. It is highly sensitive to this new pastoral usage, and is little by little showing signs of soil erosion.

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  Architecture

  Sainte-Anne du Chazelet oratory

  Although it stands beside an ordinary road, the Chazelet oratory is famous for one of the most beautiful panoramas of the Alps and the Meije mountains. Built in dry stone, the edifice is at 1 834 m and overlooks the valley and the Ecrins and Meije mountains. It has been sketched, photographed and painted many times, including in the famous Meije by the Japanese painter Foujita.
  Recently a new orientation table was placed a few metres above the oratory. In two parts, it shows the northern slope of the Meije and the southern slope in the direction of Chazelet and Savoie.

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  Panorama

  Chazelet perch

  To test your head for heights, there is nothing like this new, life-size game played facing the Meije a steel walkway suspended over empty space. The first few steps are daunting, but reaching the end of the walkway – or rather, empty space – calls for even more courage! Beneath your feet, all the way down below is the village of Les Fréaux, nestling against the Romanche, and above you, the giants of ice. If you add in the element of air, with gusts of wind blowing all around you, then strong sensations are guaranteed!

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  Flora

  Campanula thyrsoide

  This flower is an emblem of the area of La Grave and is recognisable among all others thanks to its yellow flowers that form a compact flower head also known as "thyrse". It is edible in a cheese-topped bake and is one of the rare biennial alpine plants. The seeds are scattered in the autumn and in the first year grow into big long leaves that form a rosette. Blossoming only occurs in the second year, when after ensuring reproduction, the plant dies.

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  Flora

  Altitude hayfields

  Natural hayfields are of great biological variety and are home to associations of plants that blossom freely. From this botanical variety come a multitude of insects and more particularly butterflies that find an ideal environment for their development. Maintaining the balance of these zones is essential, even more so at this altitude and in such a valley.

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  Fauna

  Viviparous lizard

  The viviparous or common lizard is present in the north of the park where it lives in cool, damp zones (moors, alpine and subalpine meadows, or at the edge of streams). It has this name as the females, in certain populations, keep the eggs in their abdomen until they hatch. Affected by any development that leads to the destruction of wet zones, it is a protected species all over France and considered vulnerable on a regional level.
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  Fauna

  Common quail

  Generally present in fields of cereal crops, the common quail also occupies the mountain meadows up to 2000 m or more. In the long grass, it pecks at insects and later on at the seeds as they reach maturity. A very discreet bird, it nests in the ground in a little dip, where it can lay twice to replace eggs in the case of destruction. Its song, that can be heard night and day, often gives it away: "pay your debts" is the male's song to keep its rivals at bay.