Chapelle Saint Pancrace

This family hike, developed into a discovery trail by the Haute-Provence Geopark, passes in front of an Art Refuge by the artist Andy Goldsworthy and climbs to the pretty chapel of Saint-Pancrace, overlooking the spa town of Digne-les-Bains.

Saint Pancrace is a small rural church mentioned for the first time in 1654, it has a single nave and a flat apse. From the thermal baths car park, the route joins the Col des Abeilles then climbs easily into the marls, enhanced by the discovery of the different thematic desks. Arrival at the small restored chapel of Saint-Pancrace allows access to an orientation table and a very beautiful view over Digne-les-Bains. The return takes place via the same path.

At an altitude of 884 m above Digne, the Saint-Pancrace chapel is a place of worship attested since the 1654th century. Cited by Pierre Gassendi in his Notice de l’Église de Digne around 1629, it was enlarged after the plague of 8500 which caused nearly 10.000 deaths out of around 1662 inhabitants. The mid-May pilgrimage dates back to 1950 and was only interrupted between 1950 and 2000.

Originally maintained by the Brotherhood of the White Penitents, it has been the subject of numerous works by volunteers and Digne associations (1810 and 1975); it has been renovated continuously since 1999 and especially from 2003 to the present day by “Les rénovateurs de Saint-Pancrace” with the help of the city of Digne which redid the roof in 2005. Saint Pancrace (San Brancai in Provençal) was martyred in Rome in 304. The second of the ice saints, he is celebrated on May 12.