Chêne chapelle

Its hollow trunk is used as the walls[3] of the two chapels, which were built there in 1696 and are still used: Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix ("Our Lady of Peace") and the Chambre de l'Ermite ("Hermit's room").

The local Abbot Du Detroit and the village priest, Father Du Cerceau, claimed that the lightning striking and hollowing the tree was an event that had happened with holy purpose.

However, a local whose name is lost renamed the oak the "Temple of Reason" and as such it became a symbol of the new ways of thinking and was spared.

[citation needed] Today, a number of measures are necessary in order to counter problems caused by the age of the tree: poles shore up the weight of some branches, and wooden shingles have been used to cover areas of the tree that have lost their bark; still, part of its trunk is already dead.

[1] The Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix chapel has been classified since 1932 as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture.