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Heritage classified

Origin and history

The chapel of Sainte-Marie de Névache, classified as a Historical Monument in 1946, is distinguished by its square plan and its open-plan porch in larch, whose clair-voyage bears the date of 1627. The building, covered with shingles and vaulted in a full-brown crib, is constructed of stone-cut chainless bellows, with a coating covering the masonry. Its steeple-wall, with a bay, crowns the flat bedside of the porch, also vaulted and covered with a two-sided roof.

The north porch, later enlarged, takes over the original architectural style, with a skeleton dated the same year (1627). The ensemble, located in the hamlet of Fontcouverte in Nevache, illustrates a modest but neat construction, typical of the alpine chapels of modern times, adapted to climatic constraints and local resources such as larch.

The absence of cut stone and the use of coated bellows suggest a artisanal, probably community, realization. The 1946 classification underscores its heritage value, linked to its authenticity and its integration into the mountain landscape of the Hautes-Alpes, where religious buildings often served as spiritual and social landmarks for isolated hamlets.

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