Lourtier
Origin of the name Lourtier
The name Lourtier has no known explanation.
Founding of Lourtier
Lourtier is a village of the upper Val de Bagnes, in the former municipality of Bagnes, which has been part of the municipality of Val de Bagnes since 2021. When it came into being is unknown. From 1659 it had a chapel dedicated to Saint George, but in the early 20th century its inhabitants still had to walk down to Le Châble for Sunday Mass. The self-taught farmer Jean-Pierre Perraudin (1767-1858), a keen observer of the land, lived here. The village is exposed to natural hazards: its torrent carries snow and mud flows in every season.[1][2][3]
History of Lourtier
1659. A chapel dedicated to Saint George is built at Les Morgnes for Masses for special intentions. A second small chapel, dedicated to Saint John before the Latin Gate, is used for reciting the Rosary.[1]
1767-1858. Life of Jean-Pierre Perraudin, a self-taught farmer from Lourtier and observer of the Alpine landscape, whose outlook is linked to the Giétro outburst flood and to the development of glacial theory.[2]
1930. Canon Jean-Marie Boitzy supports the inhabitants' request for a larger chapel. The plans of the Italian architect Alberto Sartoris are accepted, and Emile Troillet and Louis Maret lead the construction.[1]
1930s. Construction of the first dikes along the Lourtier torrent.[3]
1932. Blessing of the foundation stone in April and inauguration, on the third Sunday of September, of the chapel of Notre-Dame du Bon Conseil, nicknamed by its critics « the garage » or « the macaroni box ».[1]
1956-1957. Enlargement of the chapel: a hundred more seats in the nave, a grey granite choir, a second roof pitch and external stone pillars.[1]
1970. The torrent dikes are raised.[3]
1993. The house of Jean-Pierre Perraudin becomes the Maison des Glaciers.[2]
1999. In February six avalanches strike the village within three days. Two huge flows cut Lourtier in two and sweep away buildings and a power pylon, and the inhabitants are evacuated until 1 March. An avalanche also hits the chapel porch.[1][3][4]
2018. New exhibition design at the Maison des Glaciers.[2]
2021. An avalanche sweeps away a ski lift.[3]
2025. In November new protection works along the torrent are inaugurated: the dikes, moved, are raised by 3 to 5 metres, for about 2 million francs.[3]
Historic sites in Lourtier
Chapel of Notre-Dame du Bon Conseil. Chapel by Alberto Sartoris, inaugurated in 1932 and described as the first resolutely modern religious building in French-speaking Switzerland. As its single-pitch roof coped poorly with snow, it was enlarged in 1956-1957. It holds a wooden statue of the Virgin in the tradition of the Black Madonnas, said to come from Spain.[1]
Old chapels. Chapel of Saint-Georges built in 1659 at Les Morgnes and the small chapel of Saint-Jean before the Latin Gate, used for the Rosary.[1]
Maison des Glaciers. Museum set up in 1993 in the listed house of Jean-Pierre Perraudin (1767-1858), in the village centre. Through his eyes it presents rural life of the past and the link between the 1818 Giétro outburst flood and glacial theory, then mountain life in the face of natural hazards.[2]
Sources
- Verbier Tourisme, « Lourtier Chapels »
- Musées suisses (museums.ch), « Maison des Glaciers »
- La Télé, « Lourtier (VS) désormais mieux protégé contre les avalanches », 28.11.2025
- « Rappel sommaire de manifestations et d'événements en Valais, 1999 de jour en jour » (RERO DOC)
- Office fédéral de la statistique (OFS), STATPOP, chiffres provisoires au 31.12.2025, via citypopulation.de
- geo.admin.ch, recherche de lieux (coordonnées)
Other villages near Lourtier
Missing information, or do you have a source? Suggest a correction or addition. Every submission is checked before it's published.
Suggest a change