Sainte-ménehould

The abbot Aubry, priest of Futeau from 1848, was the origin of the rebirth of the pilgrimage. With the helps of the people of the surroundings, he restored the existing hermitage and consolidated the vault.

Unfortunately it was destroyed in 1946. Answering the desire of the population, the abbot Hannequin, priest of Islettes in 1950, undertook the construction of a new vault. The father Rayssiguier, Dominican and collaborator of Matisse at the Vence chapel, drawed a plan inspired by the theories of Le Corbusier.
After the death of the father Rayssiguier, the work was finished by the artist Pierre Szekely who designed the doors and the interior plan.

Although the pure geometry can offend sensitivity, the visitors appreciate the meditative atmosphere of the site. The great rigour with which this vault was designed is softened by imagination of a young Japanese, Kimié Bando. At the age of 8, she drew the stained glasses windows, the door-scraper, the bell-tower and the arabesques which decorate the rough concrete aspect.

The Haute-Chevauchée in Argonne (forest road D38c) is crossed by an historic path that follows the ravin of the stream Meurissons, network of french and german trenches, alongside the line of the huge funnels, crossing the Kaiser Tunnel to the military cemetery of the Forestière where every grave is planted with an hydrangea.

After the Battle de la Marne, the 5th German army retirede and stabilized its forehead in the Forest of Argonne while digging trenches to stop the advance of the 3rd army of the General Sarrail.
The Kaiser Tunnel was constructed from November 1915 by the German soldiers to rely the forehead under the coast of the Kronprinz Frédéric-Guillaume.
The soldiers dug up kilometers of galleries, shelter rooms, an emergency hospital to the north, a power station (air conditionning, water pump, lights), store rooms as well as a telecommunication office.
The soldiers sheltered, tryed to take a rest between two assaults, died in the black, the cold, mud and permanent humidity.
On the spot guided visits allow the comprehension of the horror of this position.

Very close to the Kaiser Tunnel, in the Gruerie Woods, are located the ruins of the shelter of the Imperial Kronprinz, a decorated bunker, head office of the German army.

A group of Ménéhildiens created an Adventure Park in the Argonne forest.
It is a place where moving from tree to tree by Tyrolian which allows the development of the body balance and sportive emotions.

"Argonne Adventure" is opened from spring to fall, 7 days a week from 10.30am to 20pm. Night openings in June.
It is situated near the District Road 3, between Sainte-Ménehould and La Grange-aux-Bois (direction Verdun).
A bar and a small restaurant is proposed.

Children, scholars, beginners, adults, confirmed sportsmen. This Park behaves more than 50 "workshops" on several spots:
- A initiation path for children and other games,
- An accessible green journey for children above 8 years,
- a red accessible journey for childresn above 12 years,
- a black journey for adults.

Two long Tyrolians of 70 and 90 meters offer exceptional sensations 30 meters from the ground!

You can practice Paint Ball (above 16 years), V.T.T. (renting). A vegetable labyrinth and acrobatic workshops (Tyrolian big of 258 meters of length!) in 2007.