The small Haute-Marne village of Colombey-les-Deux-Églises is famous for having been a place of tranquillity and rest for General de Gaulle, a great statesman of the 20th century who acquired a property there in 1934. It was at this family home, named La Boisserie, that General de Gaulle received the German Chancellor Adenauer in 1958 to seal the Franco-German reconciliation. Now open to visitors, the estate of La Boisserie has several rooms open to the public - the drawing room, dining room, library and office where the general wrote his Memoirs - to keep the memory of this famous figure alive.
Not far from there, at the foot of the monumental Lorraine cross, the symbol of free France, lies the Charles de Gaulle Memorial. This memorial site and museum space consists of a permanent exhibition covering 1600 m², dedicated to the life and works of the famous French general, writer and politician.
Visible from thirty or so kilometres all round, the huge pink granite Lorraine cross, inaugurated on 18 June 1972 as a tribute to General de Gaulle and his historic appeal to the Resistance of 18 June 1940, overlooks the village and the landscapes that Charles de Gaulle loved so much. His tomb lies in the cemetery at Colombey-les-Deux-Églises.
