Highlights
March - Venetian Carnival
It's an event you don't miss for anything in Remiremont: every year, "La Belle des Vosges" turns into a mini Venice for its carnival.
April - The Golot Fields
This very Vosges tradition, and more specifically in the Moselle and Moselotte valleys, in Remiremont and Épinal, celebrates the end of winter and the arrival of spring. The children present their most beautiful boats made from cheese boxes, which must be able to float of course, but which are mainly judged for their aesthetics.
April, May and October - The Great Markets
The life of Remiremont is punctuated by major clearance sales throughout the year: the spring clearance sale in April, the media library clearance sale in May and the autumn clearance sale in October.
June to September - 1RD'T
Every summer, the town of Remiremont puts on its 1RD'T outfit. On the program: concerts, exhibitions, games evenings, shows, gourmet encounters, etc. There is something for every taste.
December - Saint Nicolas
On the first weekend of December, Remiremont celebrates Saint-Nicolas with its traditional parade.
Guided tours of the Historic Center of Remiremont
Come and discover the history of the most prestigious Chapter of Noble Women in Europe… Remiremont can be discovered for you: the Romanesque chapels of the XNUMXth century, the abbey church of the XNUMXth century, the canonical quarter and its Palace of the XNUMXth century. Let yourself be surprised by our unique and extraordinary story, that of women who depended directly on the Emperor for the temporal and the Pope for the spiritual...
A short history lesson
The inhabitants of Remiremont have the rare privilege of being able to follow their history without interruption for fourteen centuries, from the monastery founded at the beginning of the 7th century in the solitude of the Vosges mountains, to the most prestigious noble female chapter in Europe from the 18th century to the current city. Abbesses and canonesses, “the Noble Ladies of Remiremont” have left their prestigious imprint everywhere in the city, which the inhabitants have managed to preserve while modernizing the town to make it the attractive and dynamic gateway to the Hautes-Vosges.
The story is that of a female religious community, which, initially dedicated to prayer and meditation, was transformed into a noble chapter. Lorraine has known four establishments of this type, but the illustrious Chapter of Saint-Pierre de Remiremont was by far the most renowned for its seniority, its wealth and the quality of its recruitment.
History
Discover everything that made Remiremont an important town in the Vosges from its creation in 620 to the revolution of 1789.
The story began in 620 with the creation by Romaric (a nobleman from the Austrasian court) and Amé (a monk and preacher, a disciple of Saint Columbanus) on Saint-Mont, a mountain peak overlooking the Moselle Valley, of the first women's monastery in Lorraine . After initially adhering to the Columbanian rule, the nuns adopted, two centuries later, the more flexible rule of Saint Benedict, at the same time as they settled in the valley.
This is 818 that the female monastery will leave the Holy Mount, due to its important development and the difficult living conditions on this mountain. Installed on the left bank of the Moselle, sheltered from floods, the agglomeration which developed kept the name of the holy founder: Romarici Mons (the mountain of Romaric) became “Remiremont”.
Over the centuries, commercial and artisanal activity developed, thus creating a active town at the gates of the abbey.
The landholdings of Remiremont Abbey were one of the elements of its power and prestige. In the Middle Ages, its estates remained the most important in the region, forming a veritable enclave within the territories of the Duke of Lorraine. The abbey was directly dependent on the Holy See for spiritual authority and on the Emperor for temporal matters, but both were distant; the true head of the abbey remained the Abbess, who held the title of 'Princess of the Empire'. The abandonment of the Benedictine rule and the evolution towards a more flexible and pleasant way of life, achieved through secularization, actually reflects the social origins of its members, drawn from the highest nobility (every applicant had to demonstrate sixteen quarterings of nobility, without any misalliance).
The chapter was a sort of house of education in the XNUMXth century for young girls of high nobility from Lorraine, France, Franche Comté, Alsace and the Holy Empire. Secularization (affirmed in the XNUMXth century) allowing them to make neither vows nor religious professions, the ladies benefited from great freedom of action. Leaving offices and religious obligations, they lived as women of the world in the ease and comfort of their private homes.
In 1789, the Revolution was underway, and nothing could stop it: the Assembly abolished privileges and seigneurial rights that year, followed by the decree of February 13, 1790, which ordered the suppression of monasteries. The Chapter thus lost its legal existence, and the Canonesses were forced to leave. On December 7, 1790, the abbey church was sealed.
With the disappearance of the Canonesses, Remiremont takes on its role as an administrative, commercial and tourist center at the gateway to the High Vosges.
Contact us!
Remiremont Tourist Office
6 place Christian Poncelet
88200 Remiremont