Quirieu, site médiéval

Quirieu is a sleeping city that looks like something out of a fairy tale.
It is located on the northern border of Dauphiné, is today attached to the commune of Bouvesse-Quirieu (Isère) and to the Community of Communes of Balcons du Dauphiné.

The site extends over a 4ha limestone mound forming a small, elongated and naturally steep plateau. On its eastern flank, Quirieu dominates the Rhône and overlooks its alluvial terraces by almost 100 meters. To the east, facing the site, on the other side of the river, rise the first and powerful foothills of southern Bugey. To the west, Quirieu opens onto the cold lands of Bas Dauphiné.

In the Middle Ages, it was one of the main Delphinal strongholds. Quirieu benefited from a privileged situation of control exercised over a territory, a river axis and a border (the Rhône, which here separated Dauphiné and Bugey until 1601). After a period of apogee from the XNUMXth to the XNUMXth centuries, Quirieu was gradually abandoned. But the streets and housing of the old urban fabric are still very perceptible.

The landscape of this village, abandoned by man and reclaimed by nature and vegetation, gives Quirieu its unique character. This "ghost village" takes on the appearance of a fairytale setting where dreams, imagination, and poetry intertwine with history.

The site is dotted with thematic panels which allow you to discover Quirieu in complete freedom. Walk the paths of the Quirieu site and head towards the orientation tables; you will discover the breathtaking panorama onto which the medieval site opens. By looking at this territory below, you will realize how man has shaped this landscape thanks to his know-how: traces of the ferry on the Rhône, multinational cement factory (Vicat), quarry basin, vineyards (Syndicat des Vins du Bugey, Montagnieu), hydraulic industry (CNR) and nuclear industry (EDF), leisure center (Vallée Bleue, Montalieu-Vercieu), crafts (Moulin d'Arche, Bouvesse-Quirieu) and furniture factory luxury (Ligne Roset, Briord) etc.

Today Quirieu is coming back to life thanks to occasional events organized in a dynamic of gentle tourism around storytelling or musical and historical strolls (moonlight storytelling evening at the end of June, Concordia construction site in July).