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Origin and history

The chapel of penitents Notre-Dame d'Espérance, located on the outskirts of the village of La Salle-les-Alpes, presents a rectangular flat bedside plan, typical of the religious constructions of this period. It housed the fraternity of the white penitents of the parish, attached by its statutes to the Roman arch-confraternity of Notre-Dame de Gonfalon. The confraternities adjacent to Pananches and Chirouze, although having their own chapels, also depended on it. The chapel, not oriented according to the liturgical canons, would have escaped the 1742 fire that ravaged the village.

Founded according to canon James in 1529, the brotherhood was attested in 1616 by a book of accounts, while the high altar bears the date of 1681. The current construction, dated from 1741 by the anchors of the drafts and the base of a statue of the Virgin, became communal property in 1829 while remaining used by the brotherhood. Its decline began in the early 20th century: the last registered burial was in 1921, and its activity ceased in the 1920s, limiting itself to an accounting function. The chapel, classified as a historical monument in 2015, illustrates the importance of the brotherhoods in Alpine religious and social life.

In 1809, the parish of La Salle-les-Alpes had four brotherhoods totalling 200 members, highlighting their central role in community structure. The cadastre of 1829 confirms its status as a communal good, although always dedicated to the activities of the brotherhood. The local historian Jacques, by advancing the date of 1529 for its foundation, suggests an exceptional longevity, although the oldest material evidence dates back to the seventeenth century with the high altar of 1681. Its sober architecture and peripheral location reflect both its practical utility and its anchoring in the local spiritual landscape.

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