The Celtic camp of La Bure, located in Lorraine, France, is one of the many fortified hilltop sites bordering the Upper Meurthe Valley. The plateau, now covered by forest, is shared between the communes of Saint-Dié-des-Vosges and Hurbache, at the western edge of the Ormont massif.
This hilltop settlement, of the 'spur' type, fortified to the east, is situated on a sandstone promontory overlooking the Meurthe Valley by more than 200 meters. It was intensely occupied during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, particularly at the end of the second Iron Age and the period of Gallic independence, as well as throughout most of the Roman period, from the 2nd to the 4th century AD. The site's occupation dates back at least to the Late Neolithic, as evidenced by numerous stone artifacts made from flint, such as chisels, scrapers, blades, arrowheads, and polished axes crafted from other materials.
A few shards of green-glazed pottery are believed to date from the Middle Ages. This archaeological collection is stored and partially displayed in the archaeological section of the Pierre-Noël Museum in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, where a model of the entire site can also be seen.
Saint-Georges de Boscherville Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey. It was founded in about 1113 by Guillaume de Tancarville on the site of an earlier establishment of secular canons and settled by monks from the Abbey of Saint-Evroul. The abbey church made of Caumont stone was erected from 1113 to 1140. The Norman builders aimed to have very well-lit naves and they did this by means of tall, large windows, initially made possible by a wooden ceiling, which prevented uplift, although this was replaced by a Gothic vault in the 13th century. The chapter room was built after the abbey church and dates from the last quarter of the 12th century.
The arrival of the Maurist monks in 1659, after the disasters of the Wars of Religion, helped to get the abbey back on a firmer spiritual, architectural and economic footing. They erected a large monastic building one wing of which fitted tightly around the chapter house (which was otherwise left as it was).