SHANGRALA'S

CHAPEL OAK!

      The small French farming village of Allouville-Bellefosse is host to an ancient oak tree. Locals will inform you of the tradition known as the Assumption of the Virgin, for which an annual pilgrimage is made to Chene Chapelle, or Chapel Oak, one of the oldest known trees in France. More than just a tree, this living species is also a building and religious monument. Inside its hollow trunk are two chapels, which were built in 1669. There is also a spiral staircase built around the trunk, which provides access into the chapels.
      Chene Chapelle has become one of France's most famous trees, and the only one to gather a congregation within its exalted bark.

Here Are Some Photos Of The Renown Old Oak. Enjoy :)
Shangrala's Chapel Oak
      The chapels were built in 1696, when lightening burned through the tree. Two pious locals, the Abbot du Detroit and father Du Cerceau, regarded the hollowed trunk as a new sanctuary to the Virgin Mary. They built a small altar space, which they called Notre Dame de la Paix (Our Lady of Peace). Then, an exterior spiral staircase and a second small chapel was added. This was the Chambre de l'Ermite (the Hermit's Room).

Shangrala's Chapel Oak
      Thus established as a symbol of clerical power, the oak literally fell under fire during the French Revolution. In 1793, a insurgent crowd threatened to torch the tree in the name of a new republic and church. Again, a villager swept in and updated the oak tree's image, renaming it the "temple of reason" (a sacrosanct epithet during the Enlightenment). A plaque was hung, and the mob retreated.



Shangrala's Chapel Oak
      Today, Chene Chapelle's congregation gathers twice annually for Mass, and once for the August 15th Assumption of the Virgin. The 33-feet tall original oak is not in good condition; it has buckled under the weight of so many years and so many visitors, and its bark is almost gone. However feeble, the aging temple is bolstered by poles, oak shingles, and a village's tales of kings, warriors, troubadours and village supplicants, who have knelt at Chene Chapelle-by its soil, or at its chapel.

Shangrala's Chapel Oak

Shangrala's Chapel Oak



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SEE ALSO: Living Tree Church!






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