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History and architecture
The course of the river
Grandvoir, the castle and ironworks
Hamipré, the church and the convent
The village of Lahérie
Longlier
The village of Massul
The Nolinfaing wash house
Le Sart
Engraved and scuplted shale: funerary monuments
Warmifontaine and the slate quarry
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Engraved and scuplted shale: funerary monuments.
While shale may well be the stone most commonly used in this region of Ardennes, it is certainly not the only stone to be used in construction. Various stones are used for traditional and artistic purposes.
Anyone taking a stroll through the old Ardennes cemeteries will be struck by the presence of monuments, which are often isolated but in other locations are fairly frequently placed. This type of art is typical of the Ardennes region and is not influenced by any other artistic movement except for inspiration drawn from the region.
In Neufchâteau, a visit to a cemetery enables visitors to see many attractive monuments from the Guébel and Starck de Bastogne workshops. It is not possible to list them all here, but one or two stand out. At the entrance to the cemetery, against the walls of an old small chapel dedicated to Saint Roch, also known as the Gofflot chapel, is the tomb of Jeanne Cravatte. The tomb shows a highly stylised image of an angel sitting under the branches of a weeping willow meditating, holding the last Trump of Jeanne Cravatte as well as the book containing the names of the chosen ones... The funerary inscription is particularly original and states: 'Here lies a woman less, here lies a woman more, the original evocation of a life which ended on earth but began in the beyond'. The stone carving is very sophisticated.
In the same cemetery, there are several other tombstones and crosses bearing the image of a weeping willow, a woman weeping or simply a medallion, notably inside the Gourdet chapel, the monument commemorating two of the Gourdet sons who died during Napoleon's campaigns.
Shale monuments of the same type are can also be found in cemeteries in Tournay, Tronquoy, Massul, Habay-la-Neuve, Habay-la-Vieille and Mellier. The old abandoned cemetery in Warmifontaine also has several small ancient monuments. In Longlier, large old tombstones placed against the walls of the church are also worth a look.
While other regions of the Ardennes were greater producers of shale monuments, Neufchâteau and its neighbouring communes nevertheless have some excellent examples of this traditional Ardennes art form to show.
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