In Savoie, baroque art is very present through the "Chemins du Baroque". Baroque art appeared in the second half of the 15th century in the heart of the Alpine valleys. It showed itself through wealth and the splendour of decors (golds, polychromy), by the realism of sculptors aroused by movement and life. It highlighted a momentum of spirituality but without renouncing the human dimension of faith. It foreshadowed Heaven for the mountain populations who aspired to salvation.

Architectural heritage

The Saint-Antoine chapel makes up an impressive network of chapels, oratories and crosses within the Bessans parish. It is a rectangular building built on the rocky spur which overlooks the village, parallel to the church.
It dates from the 15th century. It was probably constructed and decorated between 1503 and 1522.








The Saint-Jean-Baptiste Church is situated near to the Saint-Antoine chapel, these two buildings making up the "Chemins du Baroque". It is impossible to determine its construction, but it certainly already existed in 1376 ; it has undergone several modifications throughout the centuries. As with all the churches of the Haute-Maurienne, it has a closed vestibule where a gallery can be found. The archway of this vestibule is decorated in the middle with a motif in plaster which already existed in 1827 and which represents the miracle of la Sainte Hostie de Turin. Inside the church, eight arched windows let in enough light so that the archway can be admired.

Artistic heritage

Country of sculptors, Bessans has extreme richness within the field of popular art like religious art : spinning wheels and distaffs, wooden toys, statues, crosses...

The most famous of the sculptors was the Clappier. Jean-Baptiste Clappier, from the hamlet of Vincendières, was one of the local artists who managed to master every technique of baroque art.

The most famous of the sculptures is the devil, the emblem of Bessans, its origins only dating from 1857.

Natural heritage

Created in 1963, the Vanoise National Park is entirely situated in the Department of the Savoie between the high valleys of the Arc (Maurienne) and the Isère (Tarentaise), right up to the Italian frontier where it is bordered along 14 kilometres by the Parc National italien du Grand Paradis and the reserve of the high valley of Orco.

The national parks of the Vanoise and the Grand Paradis are twinned and constitute the largest protected reserve in Western Europe, some 125 000 hectares.

In the heart of the Vanoise National Park, hikers will come across a nearly infinite quantity of plant species (Alpine Columbines, Lys Martagon, Edelweiss...) and animals (ibex, marmots, chamois, golden eagles...).