Valère
Origin of the name Valère
The oldest written records of the site date from the 12th century. The name of the hill, however, is unexplained.[1]
Founding of Valère
Valère is a hill in the municipality of Sion, east of the old town, rising about 150 m above the plain. Nothing there points to settlement before the first written records, from the 12th century. The church was reportedly built around 1100 as a prestige monument, after the bishop of Sion had received the comital rights over Valais in 999. The cathedral chapter owned it by the second half of the 12th century at the latest and made it its residence. Walls and towers protected the church and the canons' houses on every side. In wartime the people of Sion took refuge there, and the canons' quarter, which enjoyed immunity, guaranteed the right of asylum.[1]
History of Valère
around 1100. The church was reportedly built at this time (in the 11th century according to another source).[1][3]
second half of the 12th century. By this time at the latest, the cathedral chapter owns the buildings and lives there permanently.[1]
1209. The high altar of the church is mentioned for the first time.[2]
late 13th century. The castle's entrance tower is built.[2]
1434. Foundation of the Rarogne chapel, reconsecrated in 1450.[2]
around 1435. Pierre Maggenberg paints the choir decoration, given by Rodolphe Asperlin and his wife, and the shutters of the organ.[2][4]
1662-1664. Ruoff, Knecht and Adamer carve the choir stalls.[2]
1687. Christophe Aebi alters and enlarges the organ.[2]
1798. The canons leave the hill and settle near the cathedral.[1]
1806-1814. The sisters of the congregation of the Solitude chrétienne run a school on the hill.[1]
1817-1874. The diocesan seminary occupies the buildings.[1]
1883. Renovated, the buildings receive the historical department of the cantonal museums of Valais.[1][3]
1969. The International Festival of the Ancient Organ at Valère is founded.[3][4]
1977. The hill is entered in the federal inventory of landscapes and natural monuments of national importance.[1]
1987. The church receives the title of minor basilica.[1]
2008. Reopening of the Cantonal History Museum, the new name of the historical department.[1]
Historic sites in Valère
Church of Notre-Dame de Valère. Built from the early 12th century to the second quarter of the 13th century, it is also referred to as the church of Sainte-Catherine. Its rood screen is one of the few surviving from the first quarter of the 13th century. It bears an Annunciation painted by Pierre Maggenberg around 1435 and a Calvary of 1526. The building was restored from 1890 to 1910, then several times between 1986 and 2008.[2][3]
Organ. Dated to the 1430s, it is among the oldest organs still playable. Its shutters were painted by Pierre Maggenberg. It was altered in 1687 and restored in 1954.[2][4]
Choir stalls. Carved from 1662 to 1664, they have 24 panels devoted to the Passion.[2]
Cantonal History Museum. Housed at Valère since 1883, the historical department of the cantonal museums has borne this name since it reopened in 2008.[1][3]
Remains in Valère
Fortress. Of the walls, towers and buildings that surrounded the church, a little over a third survives at the beginning of the 21st century. The entrance tower dates from the late 13th century.[1][2]
Sources
- Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Valère » (Bernard Truffer, version du 21.02.2013)
- Office fédéral de la protection de la population, Inventaire suisse des biens culturels d'importance nationale (PBC), « Basilique et château de Valère », n° 7037 (texte du Guide artistique de la Suisse, SHAS)
- Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Sion (commune) » (François Wiblé, Bernard Truffer, Lucienne Hubler, version du 16.11.2017)
- Ghania Adamo, Céline Stegmüller, « Le plus vieil orgue du monde trône sur une colline valaisanne », swissinfo.ch, 24 janvier 2026
- geo.admin.ch, recherche de lieux (coordonnées de la basilique)
Other villages near Valère
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