Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

La Roche de Solutré is a limestone escarpment located in Solutré-Pouilly, 8 km west of Mâcon, Saône-et-Loire. This rare geological site, formed 160 million years ago by fossilized coral massifs, dominates a renowned wine landscape, especially for the Pouilly-Fuissé. Its summit, 493 meters away, is home to calcicultural lawns with Mediterranean and mountain fauna and flora, now protected by the Natura 2000 label and Grand Site de France.

The site is known worldwide for its prehistoric deposit, which was excavated in 1866 by Henry Testot-Ferry, who revealed flint tools (lance points, scrapers) and bones of horses, reindeer and cave lions. These discoveries gave its name to a Paleolithic culture, the Solutrean (c. 22 000-17 000 B.C.). The legend of an "abyss hunt", where horses would have been precipitated from the top, was popularized by a 19th century novel, but it is not scientifically founded.

In the medieval era, the Roche housed a fortress built around 930 by Raoul de Bourgogne, which became the property of the Bishop of Macon before being destroyed in 1435 by order of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. The site, classified in 1909, also houses a museum of Prehistory inaugurated in 1987, presenting the local archaeological collections. Since 2013, he has been awarded the Grand Site de France label, combining environmental preservation and tourism development.

The viticulture, introduced by the Romans and developed by the Cluni monks, shaped the landscape around the Rock. The terroir produces renowned wines such as Pouilly-Fuissé or Saint-Véran. The site, frequented by François Mitterrand for ritual ascents in the 1980s, is also a climbing spot with more than 50 equipped lanes. Its current management includes conservation measures for calcicultural lawns, such as grazing by Konik Polski horses.

La Roche de Solutré, together with his sister from Vergisson, forms a spectacular landscape described by Lamartine as "two petrified vessels overlooking a sea of vineyards". Its history thus combines geology, archaeology, viticulture and natural heritage, making it a symbol of southern Burgundy.

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