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Origin and history

Liège is a religious complex located in the municipality of Conliège, in the Jura department, in Burgundy-Franche-Comté. Built in the first quarter of the 17th century, it occupies a remarkable location on the sunny side of the remote Revigny, offering a dominant view of the Vallière valley. Its history is marked by phases of construction, abandonment and restoration, reflecting its local importance throughout the centuries.

The first document attesting to its existence dates from 1595, but it was in 1605 that the noble Claude Robin had the chapel erected as a thank-you for the ecclesiastical services rendered by a hermit. After the French Revolution, the site was rented by the commune but fell into ruins. Between 1836 and 1848, the hermit Joseph-Elie Simonin (1792-1856) occupied him and undertook important restoration work. Despite these efforts, the hermitage deteriorated again before being sold in 1927 to the Prost family, which restored it.

In 1996, the Hermitage Association acquired the site to enhance it. The whole, including buildings, terraces and the water supply system, is listed as historical monuments by order of 29 July 1998. The chapel, composed of two vaulted spans, is flanked by a kitchen and a vaulted room topped by a bell tower. The house, organized in three small rooms, spread out in front of the chapel, while a north building housed two rooms on a vaulted cellar.

Accessible by trails, the hermitage is established on a terrace supported by walls reinforced with foothills, supplemented by old gardens, a vineyard and a water supply. Close to the chapel Saint-Étienne de Coldre and a protohistoric enclosure, it bears witness to a continuous human occupation and spirituality rooted in the Jurasian landscape. Its state of conservation, although marked by several restorations, remains exceptional for a hermitage of that time.

Today, the hermitage of Conliège illustrates both the modest 17th century religious architecture and the dynamics of contemporary heritage preservation. Its inscription in historical monuments and its management by a local association underline its cultural and historical role in the region.

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