The abbey of Sixt Fer à Cheval
Twelve thousand years ago when the Giffre glacier retreated to the edges of the Mont Ruan, it left behind the valley which we know today. An abundance of sun and water enabled lush vegetation to develop, which provided shelter for wild animals and delayed the arrival of man in the valley. In the neighbouring village of Samoëns, the graves of 'Burgondes' have been discovered but it seems that Sixt Fer à Cheval was not inhabited by man in a permanent way before the twelth century.
It was in 1130 that Aymon, the lord of Faucigny, gave the abbey of Abondance all the land that today makes up our village. One of Aymon's brothers who at the time was a novice at the abbey of Abondance, was given the job of building a new abbey on this land. After many trials and tribulations, the abbey buildings were built in 1144 and the Ponce de Faucigny became the first abbot of this monastery governed by the rules of Saint-Augustin like the Abbey of Abondance and that of Saint-Maurice d'Agaune en Valais.
Henceforth autonomous, the new abbey had to sort out its relations with its mother abbey, which it did in 1160-61. It was decided that Abondance would have a certain amount of control over its subsidiary and also have a say in abbatial elections. The papal bull of Pope Adrien the 1st and Alexandre the 3rd gave official recognition to this new state of affairs (the originals of these papal bulls can be found in the parish records).
From then on, the abbey had spiritual responsibility for the surrounding villages. In 1167, the abbey was also given the mission of ensuring worship in the neighbouring village of Samoëns. The abbey's temporal remained modest and it’s running costs required constant attention. Up until the revolution, the abbey also received two thirds of the tithe income (a tax paid to the church), which was quite significant. Thirty three abbots succeeded each other at the head of the abbey which held sway over the Haut Giffre valley up until the French Revolution.
After a series of conventional abbots generally native to the region, Sixt was then sent some abbots designated by the sovereign and discipline became a little slack. When Saint François de Sales came to Sixt in 1603 he noted a certain sloppiness in the running of the abbey. It took the bishop fifteen years to establish his authority and get certain new constitutions admitted.
During its history, the abbey established the foundations of the farming community, which enabled generations of 'Savoyardes' to live in this rugged country and to adapt little by little to the necessary changes. The abbey sustained complex relations with the village people. Even if they didn't clear the valley as was at first believed, the canons did at least contribute to its development, perhaps by organising transfers of populations during the middle ages and at the very least by pursuing a rational policy concerning the distribution of land enabling families to grow crops. The people had to pay taxes on the use of this land that they did not own. The contributions which they received in the form of taxes on things such as salt, crops, wood and the use of pastureland etc. were substantial but not without drawbacks: in exchange for the tax paid on crops or use of pastureland for example, they relieved the mountain dwellers of the problem of getting supplies. The liberation of the community was conducted on friendly terms in 1793. The abbey was of course swept away by the current of 1793 as were all the others. However, in spite of the usual quibbling and bickering, the canons don't seem to have left any bad memories behind in Sixt...
Sold as a national asset, the monastery buildings were partly bought by Albanis Beaumont, an engineer who wanted to revive mining. The Cochet innkeepers who in 1821 ran the ‘best inn in the region' kept on the other part. The abbey was then bought by the Rannaud family at the end of the 19th century and became the Fer à Cheval Abbey Hotel. The hotel closed some years ago and in the year 2000 the building was bought by the Haute Savoie region who intend to create a place devoted to explaining the complicated ties which bind the inhabitants of this alpine valley with their environment.
The religious heritage of Sixt Fer à Cheval also includes the abbey church whose oldest part dates back to mid thirteenth century. The abbey's treasures are especially moving not so much because of the number or the magnificence of the objects as their quality, antiquity and the extreme fragility of certain objects. There are many chapels and oratories to be found in and around the village and these are the objects of a dynamic renovation programme initiated by the parish.