In 2026 > Denis ROUECHE
In 2016 > Delphine REIST – LES MINUTES MÉCANIQUES
The Chapel of Our Lady of Hope was built at the initiative of Father Lallemand (parish priest of Saint-Bénigne Church in the 19th century). Cholera, which appeared in the diocese in 1832, had affected several towns in the Franche-Comté region. In 1855, Levier, Boujailles, Chapelle d’Huin, and Villeneuve d’Amont were also struck. On August 20, 1854, Father Lallemand decided to organize a procession behind the statue of the Virgin Mary to seek her protection. Pontarlier had been spared. In gratitude for what he considered a benevolent act of the Virgin, Father Lallemand decided to launch a fundraising campaign for the erection of a statue of the Virgin Mary on Mont Molar, overlooking Pontarlier. Then, believing that more needed to be done, after considering the construction of an oratory, he finally committed himself to the project of a chapel where it would be possible to celebrate Mass. The architect Girod drew up the plans, and the contractor Girod carried out the work. The inauguration of the chapel (a small, neo-Gothic building with a single nave), on Thursday, May 9, 1861 (Ascension Day), was accompanied by a large display of popular piety with parades, processions, flags, banners, music, and songs. On March 1, 1862, the chapel was crowned with a statue of the Virgin and Child created by the Pontarlais sculptor Favier. This statue, struck by lightning in 2005, was replaced in 2009. On the site of this chapel, on Mount Molar, a fortified castle still existed in the 13th century. Nothing specific is known about this fortification, whose origins are undoubtedly older, since it was there that several weapons from the Early Middle Ages (5th-11th centuries) were unearthed in the 19th century. It has even been suggested that it could be a fortified structure dating from the Iron Age (750-1st century BC).
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