Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The chapel Saint-Marc du Chipal, located in the hamlet of the Chipal at La Croix-aux-Mines (Vosges), was mentioned in 1703, but its major reconstruction dates back to 1762. Great and blessed in 1763 by Father Jean-Baptiste Rovel, parish priest of Laveline and La Croix, it embodies the 18th century Lorrain religious architecture. Its bell tower, initially surmounted by a bulb, was damaged during World War I, abolished in 1950, and restored in 1992 in its original style.

The chapel furniture, partially classified as a historic monument, includes an 18th-century altarpiece with statues and worshipping angels, three paintings (including a 17th-century Nativity), and copper candlesticks. A bronze bell of 1782, blessed by Abbé Rovel, bears Latin inscriptions evoking his godfathers and godmothers, as well as a prayer to St Mark against lightning. These elements bear witness to local piety and the gifts of families such as the Bietrix, which financed altars and liturgical objects in 1766.

Classified as a historical monument in 1993, the chapel preserves valuable archives in the Departmental Archives of the Vosges: acts of blessing, accounts of expenses, and documents related to its status of parish dependence. Its history is also linked to regional mining activity, as evidenced by the brochure L-Argent du Chipal (1995), highlighting its anchoring in the industrial and religious heritage of the Vosges.

Today a communal property, the chapel illustrates the resilience of a building marked by conflicts and restorations. Its inscription among the historical monuments and the protection of its furniture make it an emblematic place of the Great East, at the crossroads of religious, artisanal and memorial history.

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