La Maurienne – Site 09

Saint‐Michel‐de‐Maurienne

A strategic position on the road to Italy via the Mont‐Cenis Pass
Since Roman times, Saint‐Michel‐de‐Maurienne has occupied a strategic position, at the junction between the road that leads to the Mont‐Cenis Pass and paths linking the Tarentaise, Valloire, and the Galibier. The strategic location of the town led the first Counts of Savoy to transfer the seat of the Castelleny of Maurienne there in the twelfth century. Saint‐Michel‐de‐Maurienne thus served as an administrative centre. Its castle, of which only a round tower remains, sheltered a garrison.
In the middle of the nineteenth century, the small town developed further due to the building of a railway line and then to the opening of the Mont‐Cenis railway tunnel towards Susa in 1871. Numerous industries, linked to the exploitation of anthracite, limestone, and hydroelectricity, ensured the prosperity of the town. The ‘Espace Alu’ museum retraces the history of aluminium in the Alps.
The Church of Saint‐Michael the Archangel. Above the altar, there is a painting dated 1668 and attributed to Gabriel Dufour which represents the Holy Shroud in the upper section, supported by five figures, among whom are the Holy Virgin, Amédée IX of Savoy and French king Saint Louis, and other figures in adoration in the lower section.
The Church Notre‐Dame‐de‐l’Assomption‐Beaune was erected in 1518. The reredos of the Rosary, made of gilded wood in 1727, represents a painting attributed to Dufour.
The Dufour family of painters of the Baroque originated from Saint‐Michel‐de‐Maurienne. From 1627 to 1734, they produced most of the religious paintings found in the churches and chapels of Maurienne.