The chapel in Le Bérouze

The Berouze Chapel is dedicated to the apostles' Peter and Paul. It is one of the nine chapels located in the hamlets of Samoëns.

Its origin lies in the transport of the ruins of the chapel founded at the Col de Couz in 1468. This chapel was destroyed in 1476 during the invasion of Faucigny by the Swiss troops. Today's chapel was built on the Place du Bérouze in 1481. It was restored again in 1660, as the Latin inscription on its façade reminds us: "Noble Bernard Ducis, fortunately, raised me at his expense in the year of the Lord 1660". After losing its bell during the Revolution, it was found again in 1824. A new restoration was carried out in June 2010.

Inside the religious building, the painting on the altarpiece features the three favorite Jesus' apostles: Peter James and John. They are represented in a mountain landscape surrounded by an Italian town: Peter with the keys and the pallium, John as a young man raising his hand to heaven, and finally, the older and already slightly bald James is painted joining his hands in a gesture of prayer.

The painting was a gift from Abbot J.F. Gindre and is a masterpiece of the painter Edouard Cabanne signed and dated 1879. This 19th-century painter is notably responsible for the four large panels in the church of Salies. Numerous of the paintings he made are also kept at the Fine Arts Museum in Bordeaux and at the Saint-Denis Museum in Reims.

The Bérouze chapel and the eight other chapels in the hamlets of Samoëns can be visited during hikes in the Alps. There are visits organized by the association "Les Amis des chapelles" and partial tours. These are well signposted and are organized by the Syndicat Intercommunal de la Vallée du Haut-Giffre and the General Council.