The Valère basilica (french: Basilique de Valère), also called Valère castle (french: Château de Valère), is a fortified

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chri ...

situated in Sion in the

canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ente ...

Valais Valais ( , , ; frp, Valês; german: Wallis ), more formally the Canton of Valais,; german: Kanton Wallis; in other official Swiss languages outside Valais: it, (Canton) Vallese ; rm, (Chantun) Vallais. is one of the 26 cantons forming the S ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. It is situated on a hill and faces the

Château de Tourbillon Tourbillon Castle (French: ''Château de Tourbillon'') is a castle in Sion in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It is situated on a hill and faces the Basilique de Valère, located on the opposite hill. It was built at the end of the 13th ...

, located on the opposite hill. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.

Geography

Location

The castle of Valère is located on the Valère hill at above sea level and dominates the town of Sion in the canton of

. The castle's church is located at the top of the hill, while the fortified village and its walls surround it. The relief of the Valère hill is very uneven and access to the castle is only possible from the north-east.

Fauna and Flora

Since 1977, the site has been included in the Federal Inventory of Sites and Monuments of National Importance due to the large number of protected species present on Valère Hill. The fauna of the hill includes the European green lizard (''Lacerta viridis''), the European mantis (''Mantis religiosa''), the

scarce swallowtail The scarce swallowtail (''Iphiclides podalirius'') is a butterfly belonging to the family Papilionidae. It is also called the sail swallowtail or pear-tree swallowtail. Subspecies Subspecies include:green-underside blue (''Glaucopsyche alexis''), the blue-winged grasshopper (''Oedipoda caerulescens''), the rock bunting (''Emberiza cia''), the

common redstart The common redstart (''Phoenicurus phoenicurus''), or often simply redstart, is a small passerine bird in the genus '' Phoenicurus''. Like its relatives, it was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family, (Turdidae), but is now known to b ...

(''Phoenicurus phoenicurus''), the

common raven The common raven (''Corvus corax'') is a large all-black passerine bird. It is the most widely distributed of all corvids, found across the Northern Hemisphere. It is a raven known by many names at the subspecies level; there are at least ...

(''Corvus corex'') and the

common kestrel The common kestrel (''Falco tinnunculus'') is a bird of prey species belonging to the kestrel group of the falcon family Falconidae. It is also known as the European kestrel, Eurasian kestrel, or Old World kestrel. In the United Kingdom, where n ...

(''Falco tinnunculus''). Valère's flora is composed of feather grass (''Stipa''), ''

Ephedra distachya ''Ephedra distachya'' is a shrub in the family Ephedraceae that stands about 25 cm to 50 cm high. The shrub grows in many parts of the world, including southern and central Europe and western and central Asia. Its local names include ' ...

'', Indian fig (''Opuntia humifusa''), hoary berteroa (''Berteroa incana''), early star-of-Bethlehem (''Gagea bohemica''), cotton thistle (''Onopordum acanthium''), motherwort (''Leonurus cardiaca'') and patience dock (''Rumex patientia''). of the Tourbillon Hill are also included in the catalogue of protected places in the category of dry meadows and pastures of national importance. This area was classified in 2017 with the aim of conserving Switzerland's dry meadows and pastures, almost 95% of which have disappeared since 1900.

History

The Diocese was founded in Octodurum, now called

Martigny Martigny (; german: Martinach, ; la, Octodurum) is the capital city of the district of Martigny, canton of Valais, Switzerland. It lies at an elevation of , and its population is approximately 15000 inhabitants (''Martignerains'' or "Octoduriens ...

, in the early 4th century. In 589 the bishop, St. Heliodorus, transferred the see to Sion, as Octodurum was frequently endangered by the inundations of the Rhone and the Drance. Very little is known about the early Bishops and the early churches in Sion. However, in the late 10th century the last King of

Upper Burgundy The Kingdom of Upper Burgundy was a Frankish dominion established in 888 by the Welf king Rudolph I of Burgundy on the territory of former Middle Francia. It grew out of the Carolingian margraviate of Transjurane Burgundy (''Transjurania'', ...

Rudolph III, granted the County of Valais to Bishop Hugo (998–1017). The combination of spiritual and secular power made the Prince-Bishops the most powerful nobles in the Upper Rhone valley. Sion became the political and religious center of the region. By the 12th century they began building impressive churches and castles in Sion to represent their power and administer their estates. Valère, as the residence of the cathedral chapter in Sion, was one-third of the administrative center of the powerful Diocese of Sion. In the 12th century the Cathedral Notre Dame de Sion (du Glarier) was built in the town below Valère hill. Glarier Cathedral became the seat of the Diocese of Sion, while the Prince-Bishop of Sion lived in

Tourbillon Castle Tourbillon Castle (French: ''Château de Tourbillon'') is a castle in Sion in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It is situated on a hill and faces the Basilique de Valère, located on the opposite hill. It was built at the end of the 13th ...

. The name Valère is first mentioned in 1049 as the site of the

cathedral chapter According to both Catholic and Anglican canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics ( chapter) formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese during the vacancy. ...

in Sion. The first parts of the church were built between 1100 and 1130 in the Romanesque style. The next construction phase began after 1130 and included the semi-circular

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an '' exedra''. ...

, the walls and windows and a roof. The third phase saw the church expand and the style changed to the new

Gothic style Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

. Between 1235 and 1267 the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-typ ...

expanded and was flanked with two

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, pa ...

s. During the 13th century, the

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...

was covered with a Gothic

ribbed vault A rib vault or ribbed vault is an architectural feature for covering a wide space, such as a church nave, composed of a framework of crossed or diagonal arched ribs. Variations were used in Roman architecture, Byzantine architecture, Islamic a ...

and a

rood screen The rood screen (also choir screen, chancel screen, or jubé) is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, o ...

was installed to separate the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. ...

from the nave. The famous organ was installed around 1430–1435 and other than a modification in the 1700s is essentially unchanged. The murals date from about 1435 as well. The Gothic marble statue of the Madonna with the baby Jesus was added in the 15th century over the high altar. The current choir stalls were added in the mid-17th century. The church obtained the rank of minor

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its nam ...

on 7 October 1987, during the visit of

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

Valère organ

The

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

on the west side of the Valère basilica, believed to have been built in 1435, is one of the oldest functioning in the world. It was probably brought to the church by Guillaume de Rarogne, who eventually ended up as the bishop of Sion. Its pipes are arranged to form a rough outline of a church; the larger pipes form two towers, and the smaller ones create a triangular church roof. The organ was modified in the 1700s to play

Baroque music Baroque music ( or ) refers to the period or dominant style of Western classical music composed from about 1600 to 1750. The Baroque style followed the Renaissance period, and was followed in turn by the Classical period after a short transit ...

, but otherwise remains essentially unchanged. It was renovated in 1954, around the time that another famous early model – the Rysum organ – was repaired.

References

External links

picture of the organ
{{DEFAULTSORT:Basilique de Valere Basilica churches in Switzerland Castles in the canton of Valais Fortified church buildings in Switzerland Sion, Switzerland Tourist attractions in Valais Cultural property of national significance in Valais Roman Catholic churches in Switzerland