Cappella dell'Annunciazione dell'Oulme

Frescoed apse wall - Nadia Faure

The chapel of Oulme is officially dedicated to Mary Annunziata but has always been informally called the chapel of San Cristoforo, because of the imposing external fresco depicting the Saint ferrying Baby Jesus across the rushing waters of a river. On the same facade, there is also the Annunciation fresco, dated 1533.

The "Holy Ferryman," who became the patron saint of pilgrims and travelers, has been depicted on the facades of churches and chapels in the Upper Valley, now disused, but once located along important communication routes.

The building, which in the past constituted a devotional pilgrimage stop from nearby France, presents very interesting architectural features.
It is the oldest chapel in the Municipality of Salbertrand and, as hypothesized by local historian Clelia Baccon, it may have replaced the Church of San Giovanni Battista during the remodeling works that involved it in the last decades of the fifteenth century.

Internal

Inside, the harmony of lines and the structural and decorative use of stone evoke the architectures of the Parrocchiale, suggesting a construction continuity. The arches of the vault meet at the keystone, decorated with the image of the lamb; at the four corners, capitals represent zoomorphic figures. A wooden gate, similar to the one in the Certosa della Losa, clearly separates the area for the faithful from the presbytery; embedded in it is an iron box, with a heavy lock, for collecting alms. Frescoes depicting scenes from the life of Mary, defaced over the centuries, decorate the interior walls. The richness of colors, including gold and lapis lazuli, testify to the importance of the sacred building. An inscription to the right of the altar allows dating: 1534.

In 1713, with the Treaty of Utrecht and the transition to the Savoy, a wind of renewal swept through the Upper Valley.
Thick layers of plaster and a canvas depicting the Annunciation, in Baroque style, positioned above the altar, transformed the original appearance of the chapel, covering for three centuries and preserving to this day its precious frescoes that only in 2008, thanks to the restoration campaign promoted by the Curia, the Municipality and the Natural Park of Gran Bosco di Salbertrand, with the contribution of Compagnia di San Paolo and the Piedmont Region, conducted by the Department of Architectural Design of the Polytechnic University of Turin under the supervision of the Superintendence for historical and artistic heritage of Piedmont, were restored to their ancient splendor.

Internal chapel - Simona Molino

The frescoed cycles

The back wall of the chapel, opposite the entrance door, is frescoed with an image of the Pietà, with Saint Anne and Saint Lucy on the sides, while on the left, Saint Roch is depicted, showing the plague wound on himself, a disease against which he was invoked.

The Stories of the Virgin emerging on the wall behind the altar are astonishing.
At the bottom, from left to right: the encounter of Anne and Joachim at the Golden Gate, Martyr Saint (probably Saint Barbara), Bishop Saint, the birth of Mary. In the center, above the altar, a mirror of plaster without frescoes was probably intended to host a carved or painted altarpiece, of which there is now no trace.

Second register, from left to right: presentation of Mary at the Temple, the Annunciation of the Archangel Gabriel to Mary about her death, the farewell of the Virgin, the death of the Virgin.

Third register from right to left: the funeral of the Virgin. It is the moment when the Virgin's coffin is carried by the Apostles to the burial. According to a particular tradition, a Jewish soldier (in the "Golden Legend" he is a priest) tries to overturn the coffin but is punished by Archangel Saint Michael, who cuts his sacrilegious hands. The scene represents the next moment, showing the soldier on the ground with bleeding stumps, while his hands are attached to the Virgin's coffin, the burial of the Virgin, the Assumption into heaven, the Apostles around the now Assumed Virgin's empty tomb, leaving an incredulous Saint Thomas a sign, as she lowers her belt from above.

Upper register:
the Coronation of the Virgin, surrounded by two music-playing angels.

The apse wall frescoed with the Stories of the life of Mary - Luca Giunti

Regarding the attribution of paintings, significant comparisons can be made between the Stories of the Virgin and the fresco with the Pieta and saints in the chapel of Oulme, with the Stories of the Passion in the church of San Sebastiano in Plampinet. At the same time, similarities can be observed with the frescoes in the chapels of Horres (Stories of Saint Andrew, Saint Lucia, and a fragment of Saint Anthony of Padua) and of Coignet (Annunciation, Saint Christopher, and Saint Anthony the Abbot, or Saint Jerome, painted on the façade).