Cirque de Morgon, Natural cirque in Crots, Hautes-Alpes, France

Cirque de Morgon is a natural amphitheater in the Hautes-Alpes surrounded by steep cliff walls that descend in stages across the landscape. The bowl-shaped formation features rock faces of varying heights that appear to shift with changing light and seasons.

Medieval monks from Notre-Dame de Boscodon abbey relied on these slopes for summer grazing of their livestock across the centuries. The location remained integral to the monastic economy of the broader region.

On 29 June, the feast of Saint Peter, a procession still climbs to the small lake of Morgon, where a chapel stood until it was abandoned at the start of the 20th century. Some historians trace the pilgrimage to pagan rites later Christianised. The lake is nearly dry in summer.

The cirque lies above the Serre-Ponçon lake on the Crots commune, between 1,900 and 2,381 m, with worn tracks crossing the grassy lower slopes toward the small lake, which is nearly dry in summer. The rim is formed by the tête de la Vieille (2,381 m), the pic de Morgon (2,324 m) and the pic de Charance (2,316 m). Plan for a full day and expect sudden mountain weather on the upper slopes.

The chapel of Saint-Pierre de Morgon, abandoned since the early 20th century, was rebuilt identically in June 1992 with larch beams by students of the vocational lycée in Embrun, in fifteen days. It stands by the small lake that is the goal of the 29 June pilgrimage.