The Donon Grandfontaine : Grandfontaine Tourism

Description

Highest point of the Vosges mountains, perched 1009 meters high, the Donon offers an exceptional view of the Saar and Bruche Valley. This site, filled with mystery and magic, is marked by history and offers a beautiful trip down in the past in the heart of a beautiful scenery.

The Donon was named after the Celtic word "dunum" which means "mountain", "hill". By extension, this term refers to a high place. Many traces of human occupation date back to the Bronze Age (2000 BC) and the Iron Age (750 to 50 BC Christ). At that time, the region was occupied by large Gallic tribes from Eastern France: Leuci, the Triboques the Mediomatrici ... The site was centrally located and was an important axis of passage connecting the Rhine Valley and the Lorrain Plateau.

The Donon became a place of worship: the Celts built a temple consecrated to the Deer God. The Gallo-Romans, meanwhile, built a temple dedicated to Mercury. There is nothing left from this mystical past: the temples were ransacked over the centuries.

During the Middle Ages, people used to gather there in worship and practices which went against the wave of Christianization.

In the nineteenth century, Leopold Hugo, novelist Victor Hugo's father, said in a letter that his son had been conceived at the top of the Donon. An engraved plaque, recalling this, is placed on top of a rock: "In this place, on V Floreal Year IX Victor Hugo was conceived".

In 1869, at Napoleon III's request, the summit host a building imitating a Greco-Roman temple. This work by Colmar architect Louis Michel Boltz was used as shelter for various archaeological finds. The viewpoint, installed in 1884 and located at the front of the temple, help people to orient their gaze towards the Vosges panorama.

The Donon was also the scene of battles during the Great War. For 15 days, the French Army had occupied the summit. 200 soldiers were killed during the heavy fighting.

Since then, to reach the summit, a trail marked out with commented archaeological drawings was created.

Photo: Christian Amet©

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