Pierre Chanoux
The botanist priest of the Little St Bernard hospice
At the Little St Bernard Pass, a garden of Alpine plants bears the name Chanousia. It commemorates Abbé Pierre Chanoux, who created it. Born in Champorcher in 1828 and died in 1909, Chanoux was at once a priest, a botanist and a mountain man.
A priest at 2,000 metres
Pierre Chanoux was ordained a priest in 1851. Rather than a parish in the valley, he was appointed rector of the Little St Bernard hospice. The building stands very close to the pass, which opens at an altitude of 2,188 metres. The hospice takes in travellers crossing between the Aosta Valley and the Tarentaise. Life there is harsh, especially in winter. Chanoux would spend a large part of his life there.
A garden on the pass
It was near the hospice that he created a garden of Alpine plants. The garden was later named Chanousia in his honour. High-mountain species are grown and studied there. The garden also serves to conserve them.
A walker of the Graian Alps
Chanoux did not simply observe plants. He also explored the mountains of the Graian Alps around the pass, and several ascents in the massif are attributed to him.
What became of the garden
The garden suffered in the Second World War and was then abandoned. It was later restored, notably thanks to the Société de la Flore valdôtaine, chaired by Efisio Noussan. Today it welcomes botanists, researchers and visitors interested in Alpine flora. It shows that Chanoux was already concerned, in his day, with the conservation of mountain plants.
Faith and science
Pierre Chanoux’s life combined religion, science and a love of the mountains. His vocation as a priest did not prevent him from being an inquisitive naturalist. He remains one of the most original figures of the Aosta Valley in the 19th century.
