Open-Air Museum

At Librairie Sauvage, owned by Louise Jeantet and Louis Paturaud, even the walls tell a story: a beautiful fresco dating from the 1920s, still remarkably well-preserved, depicts the mountains of the Vallée de Joux. A little further on, at the Columbia boutique, people come as much for the new collections as for the artwork displayed in the store. It is the work of the renowned Marcel Wibault, instantly recognisable depictions of the Mont Blanc massif, which he both painted and explored.

On the same street, a monumental trompe-l'œil fresco covering 160 square metres of façade pays tribute to 20 major figures in mountaineering. Around the iconic emblem of the Compagnie des Guides, one can recognise Jacques Balmat, of course, but also Marie Paradis-Servante and Henriette d'Angeville, the first two women to have climbed Mont Blanc. A key helps identify these legends and provides a refresher… Quiz at the end of your stay. More minimalist, on the façade of the Super U supermarket, the portraits of great mountaineering and skiing figures from 1900, which once adorned the famous Pâtisserie des Alpes, have stood the test of time. And along the banks of the Arve River, graffiti becomes poetry: the black and white portrait of Gaston Rébuffat, signed by Sonia Guiollot, is accompanied by this phrase from his wife: “In audacity lies enchantment.” And it’s hard to say what shines brighter, the tribute paid to the guide or the aptness of these few words.

Lucien Boucansaud and Guillaume Pierrel saw the Virgin Mary. They even saw seven. The two mountaineers followed in the footsteps of their ancestors, covering 130 km and 16,000 m of elevation gain in 10 days to reach seven mythical peaks of the massif (the Drus, the Grepon, the Peuterey…) where statues of the Virgin Mary stand. They thus attempted to unravel the mystery of the guardians of the peaks and created the sublime documentary "The Madonna," which won several awards and was the Jury's Choice Award at the 2025 Chamonix Film Festival. Much lower down, in Vallorcine, the village church has been given a touch of art with 12 contemporary stained-glass windows by Father Kim En Joong, a South Korean priest and artist. The colours are vibrant and brighten up even a whiteout day. In Chamonix, the Saint-Michel church has opted for spiritual pop art with two stained-glass windows by Grenoble master glassmaker Louis Balmet. One depicts Bernard de Menthon vanquishing a devil with a serpent's tail using his walking stick. The other is probably the only representation in the world of Saint Christopher alongside skiers and bobsledders in skintight suits.

On the roof of the Maison des Artistes (Artists’ House), there’s a weathervane with two skiers silently slicing through the wind. And above the Mont Blanc pharmacy, a miniature stagecoach recalls the days when one arrived in the valley by horse-drawn carriage, after crossing three mountain passes and enduring a freezing night. The art of capturing the passage of time…