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Origin and history

The chapel of Saint-Jean-le-Fromental, located in the cemetery of the eponymous hamlet on the Chambaran plateau, is a rare example of Romanesque architecture at the end of the 12th century, sometimes considered earlier. Ranked a historic monument on October 18, 1910, it is dedicated to John the Baptist and is one of the oldest chapels of the Dauphiné. Its bell tower houses a bell dated 1464, while two linden trees, planted in 1731 by the local priest, adorn its parvis. Inside, murals were rediscovered after a recent restoration.

Successive property of the Lord Adrenc du Vinais (Vinay), of the monks of Montmajour, then of the Antonins until the French Revolution, the chapel was at the heart of ecclesiastical conflicts. In 1663, the archbishop of Vienna Henry de Villars stooped to the abbot of the Antonins for his possession. Today, it belongs to the commune of Saint-Antoine-l'Abbaye and is part of a rural landscape marked by pastures and hedges, facing the Vercors massif.

The chapel, accessible during the European Heritage Days, is also a place of cinematographic memory: it appears in Michel Barbier's Les Herbes magices (2023), evoking the life of botanist Dominique Villars, native of Dauphiné. A local association works for its preservation, organizing meetings in the former town hall of Dionay, a commune absorbed in 2016 by Saint-Antoine-l'Abbaye.

Its location, between Luzinay and Dionay, makes it a stage on a variant of GR 65, pilgrimage path linking Gillonnay to La Roche-de-Glun. The exterior wall of the choir houses a sundial, while its isolation on the edge of the Chambaran plateau reinforces its picturesque and historical character.

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