Chapelle Saint Barthélémy

It stands on a promontory overlooking the districts of La Salle-les-Alpes, in the middle of a meadow. This chapel is mentioned for the first time in a legacy in 1469. It was then a farm building. It has been classified as a Historic Monument since 1976.
This small rectangular building is especially remarkable for its painted decorations on the interior walls.
Under a starry blue sky - French coffered ceiling, paintings cover all the walls. Another cartoon tells the story of the lives of St Bartholomew, St Mary Magdalene, St Martha and St Lazarus, who were the architects of the evangelisation of Marseilles and Aix-en-Provence in particular.
As soon as you open the door, your gaze falls on the opposite wall with the light. In the centre, a Crucifixion, framed by a coronation of the Virgin at the top, Saint Martha and Saint Mary Magdalene welcoming Jesus and the apostles on the right and Saint Martha and the Tarasque on the left. Here we are in a world of women...
On the right wall we are told the story of Mary Magdalene and Martha. Mary Magdalene with her red hair down to the ground and Martha with a white veil. Here they are leading Jesus and the apostles past the tomb of Lazarus, just before Lazarus' resurrection
Then St. Martha, St. Mary Magdalene, St. Lazarus and St. Maximin leave for Marseille. When they arrive in Marseille, Mary Magdalene hurries to preach the good word to the people of Marseille... The story continues on the wall above the entrance door. Under an Annunciation, we can read, The dead queen and her child abandoned on the rocks, the king's meeting with Saint Peter and the rapture of Saint Mary Magdalene. Mary of Magdala is said to have lived the rest of her life in prayer in the grotto, which is now the sanctuary of Sainte-Baume.
The left-hand wall is entirely devoted to the life of Saint Bartholomew. Bartholomew, is one of the twelve apostles of Jesus of Nazareth. St Bartholomew appears in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. He is said to have been born in Cana in Galilee and his name means "Son of Talmai". He is sometimes equated with the disciple Nathanael, a friend of St Philip who brought him to Christ. After Pentecost, he is said to have gone as far as India and brought the Gospel of St. Matthew there
He preached alone or in the company of St. Philip in Asia Minor, Persia and Armenia, where, after the healing of his daughter, he converted King Polymi and his court at Albanopolis, now Baku. But the brother of this king, at the instigation of the pagan priests, had him seized and delivered to martyrdom. Saint Bartholomew and his remains. The saint, who, according to the Golden Legend, was flayed alive, is often depicted with his "remains" on his back.
Finally, Saint George on his horse, delivers a young girl... And here is Saint Catherine of Alexandria and the cogwheel of her torture, together with Saint Margaret emerging from the monster that had swallowed her. It was the voices of these two saints that Joan of Arc heard.
To meditate on these dramatic lives that sometimes make history into a poetic legend, I sat on this bench overlooking the Guisane valley and the ski slopes of Serre-Chevalier. I had left the chapel with the still fresh images of martyrdom and tragedy