L’île Saint-Marguerite : Patrimoine fortifié en Méditerranée | Côte d’Azur | Trésors du Patrimoine

Cannes. Une douzaine de lycéens venus de toute la France restaurent pendant les vacances scolaires le Fort Royal de l’Ile Ste Marguerite…

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La plus grande des îles de Lérins. A l’âge où l’on préfère profiter des joies de la plage, eux ont choisi d’apprendre à tailler des pierres pour faire des calades (dallage méditerranéen) et à enduire les murs de chaux… Au-delà des gestes des anciens bâtisseurs qu’ils apprennent avec Christophe Guiol, un professionnel du bâtiment, amoureux du patrimoine, ces jeunes plongent pendant 15 jours au cœur de l’histoire. Le Fort Royal est en effet, un trésor de l’art militaire du 17ème siècle, transformé en prison. Le masque de Fer y resta enfermé de longues années. Christophe Guiol, passionné d’histoire fera également découvrir aux adolescents du chantier, les vestiges d’un monastère fortifié, sur l’île voisine, St Honorat…

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On the boat, Christophe Guiol,
38 years old, construction professional, heritage lover and today,
youth work camp leader. Every summer, he works on the restoration
of Fort Royal with a group of high school students. The fort is located on the largest
of the Lérins islands, Ste Marguerite Island. The fort is my whole childhood, my whole life.
I am from Cannes, I opened my eyes looking at the fort perhaps. When there is the sea, if there are no
islands and a fort, it’s not the sea. Being young we always came there to visit looking for
the little secret passage looking for the hidden treasure, that’s the fort, the life of the fort is
magical, you just have to see it, it’s magical. Built on the orders of Richelieu at the beginning
of the 17th century, the fort was to protect the coasts of south-eastern France from the
Spanish Armada, the Spaniards who also seized it and occupied it for two years – these
are they who built the barracks. Vauban completed the building which then became
both a fortress and a prison. So here we are on the Bazaine terrace
which bears the name of a famous marshal of the French army who was imprisoned
here for high treason and who apparently escaped in an incredible way by weaving and tying
sheets to go down the ramparts but what is very important here is to perceive
the importance of making a fort here. Indeed, the islands block access to the harbor which was called
the Gourjon harbor today it is the Golfe Juan harbor which starts from the tip of Antibes
and goes to the tip of Esterel , and here we can clearly see the importance, it is really what is
blocking access to the Gulf. This is essentially what made Vauban reinforce the fort.
There was a desire to close the harbor a little as he had closed the harbor of Brest,
that is to say really to plan for an invasion. So a fort here is was more than strategic.
A dozen teenagers, between 15 and 17 years old, from all over France, are taking part in
this rather special holiday camp.  How are you ? Was the breakfast good? Let’s go. Okay
so today, I would like there to be 3-4 people on the Calade so in front of the museum,
2-3 people at the lime, I think 4 people at the Calade, 3 people at the lime. If there is
someone who has never done lime it would be cool for them to join Estelle and Greg.
These young people are here for two weeks – they are working on the restoration of the barracks
and alleys within the citadel. We have big holes to fill in
so we need a lot of stone. And then there you go, here we go.
They thus learn traditional construction techniques from the South of France.
It’s 8 o’clock, we’re off for a big morning on the construction site.
Today, the teenagers are divided into three teams…
Here is Estelle, 17 years old, a final year student in Lyon, she is participating
for the first time in this type of project. This morning, restoration of the old
casemates built by the Spanish military in the 17th century.
There we go to a room in the old barracks where they are making
lime to straighten the walls a little and make a dormitory for young people so that they
can come and spend their holidays at the fort. Lime plaster: an ancient technique
whose recipe Estelle learned here. We put 2 thirds of sand and 1 third
of lime to fill the holes in the walls or to make the walls
straight. I was trained by Christophe so I’m not doing too badly, it’s okay.
Pretty good, go ahead you can go you can say it you’re doing well.
I’m dealing well with it. Here what’s funny is that
it’s us who do everything so ultimately we say to ourselves that it’s doable and that
it’s not reserved for others, so it’s funny from that point of view.
Estelle has been participating in the restoration of this piece for several days.
Yo here we go. Christophe taught her the right gestures and
now she has mastered them correctly. On the other hand, the other two
young people in this workshop, Gregor and Tomas, have not yet been trained.
So here is the principle: a good movement of the arm and at the end a small movement of the wrist
to press the product so that it spreads out on the wall as much as possible.
It seems super simple, it actually is. You’ll take the hit, you’ll see it’s peaceful.
First attempt for Thomas. Stand well aside.
He must be precise, and acquire a certain freedom in the wrist movement.
You have to make a move and slap at the end you have to throw the product like that, ok?
Go too much pressure, you see the hole there, well you try to aim for that as best you can.
The goal is to distribute the material well. It doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter, the gesture
is already not bad, your product spreads well. The gesture is good, it’s just that you’re having trouble
aiming at the hole for the moment, but that’s okay, it will come, at your age, there are things we
don’t know how to do. , Go on. A little further down and it’s perfect, the gesture is
not too bad, all you have to do is aim well. Here in a company, putting so much
lime in the same place is not profitable here, it doesn’t matter. What is important is
that they have fun, their approach is already so beautiful, it must not
become a constraint to work and we really try to teach them that
, in fact, that it is not a constraint that there is no hassle. It’s just
having fun doing things. The construction site we call it an activity,
it’s not doing construction work, we’re doing an activity. In fact, they are taught to play with
other toys than usual. And that’s why it actually works well, the proof eh?
However, the work carried out here is quite serious. The fort is in fact a monument
of first importance, where a famous episode in the history of France would have taken place… A
mysterious character would have been locked up there… We don’t really know who he was, we know that he
stayed for 11 years here and whether he then left for the Bastille, brother of Louis XIV or not, we will
never know, but it was definitely his cell. The supposed brother of Louis XIV, of whom
Alexandre Dumas made the character in one of his novels, the famous “iron mask”.
A mask which, legend claims, concealed a striking resemblance to the king.
End of morning… Christophe shows Estelle
and Benoît, another teenager from the construction site, his cell – a cell that could not be more secure.
You saw there are 3 rows of bars. Christophe: You know there’s at least 20 meters
of plumb. So he couldn’t get out of his prison, so just one bar would have been enough,
but with these 3 rows of bars, it’s difficult to send a message to the outside, you
see a piece of paper we had to hard to send it, there was no stone, there was nothing
really heavy in fact. All this serves only to keep the prisoner secret.
The cell was really made for him. Fifteen years ago, the
18th century fresco which adorns one of the walls of the cell was the subject of a
restoration, and it was on this occasion that a piece of evidence was discovered…
Inside this small hole dug in the wall was in fact a fragment of parchment,
signed by an Irish prisoner. It confirms the presence in these places of the iron mask… But,
this is only an indirect testimony, and very much after the disappearance of the famous prisoner.
It’s a shame that there isn’t a name engraved in a corner that dates from 1687-88 we would know who
the prisoner was, that would remove a mystery. 1:30 p.m. It’s lunch time.
For two weeks, the group stays inside the royal fort of
Île Ste Marguerite – they have a makeshift kitchen installed in this
majestic space which dates back to Roman times. Benoît is in the kitchen
From pork to caramel, there are 18 of us at the table so the portions are quite monumental, it’s
not just the construction site, there’s the whole life of the fort   we have to learn to take initiatives
and like that we become a little more independent. We also learn how to make caramel pork.
They are lucky to be able to live in an ancient Roman cistern which was transformed
by the Jesuits to become a chapel and the frescoes which remain on the ceiling are
witnesses to the passage of the Jesuits, it is a great chance for them to be at middle
of heritage they are not just detached in a kitchen they are in the middle of heritage.
On the ceiling, three suns, symbols of the Jesuit order. On one of them, the letters
M and A for Marguerite; another mentions François-Xavier, protector of seafarers.
Benoît is very successful with his caramel pork…
Christophe your plate… It’s so good!
Hello gentlemen! All afternoons are
devoted to water sports… But today, as the stay comes to an end,
a small group goes to the neighboring island – St Honorat, the second island of Lérins… it too
is fortified, and this since the 11th century. Beyond the construction site, these two weeks offer
these teenagers a real dive into history. Saint Honorat is truly magnificent,
truly preserved, it’s a very beautiful island. St Honorat belongs to the religious order
of the Cistercians, the monks of the community invited Christophe and his group.
There it really emanates, it really gives off that. On the island there is a 19th century monastery,
but the oldest part is this fortified tower, which seems to jut out over the sea…
It was the monks who built it in the Middle Ages to protect themselves from the numerous invaders
who then regularly pillaged the region. Father Abbot Vladimir welcomes Christophe
and his group. A special moment – ​​because religious people rarely accompany visitors…
today, however, Father Vladimir will tell them the surprising history of this monastery.
So here we are in the 13th century tower and this is the late 14th century layout
for the monks to live there. So they made 2 superimposed cloisters, one which
is made, most of them are Roman columns in fact which were recycled while the cloister
above is a late 14th and early 15th century cloister. They are all different Roman columns,
this column there which is a little pink is porphyry, and probably it is the
column of a temple, it was recovered and then we cut a piece of stone on
top to adjust the capital and the one that is behind you where we see a small piece
of inscription, this is what we call a thousand, these are the milestones that there were every
Roman mile on the Roman roads , which dates from Constantine II which is 380 and dust.
And so it was on the Roman road which goes behind the coast and they brought it back here, because
it was much cheaper to recover the columns than to cut new ones.
Until the 19th century, monks lived behind the fortifications. Also the tower
is a rare example of architecture that is both religious and military – this is what
makes it original and historical interest. It is one of the first historical monuments
to be classified in France by Prosper Mérimée in the middle of the 19th century and there are at least 3 or 4 major
restoration campaigns from 1850. You can go up and see all of this.
The monks who occupied the ground floor and first floor of the tower cohabited
with soldiers who were stationed in the upper parts of the building. There they
awaited the arrival of enemy ships. The danger then came from all directions…
Over there, there is the Esterel and the dead so where the Saracens come from, from there come
the Genoese who are no better, even worse, than the Saracens, and in addition we are surrounded by
shoals, which means that we cannot approach by boat. It is the ideal place for a fortress.
Every morning at 7 a.m., breakfast on Ste Marguerite Island.
Today, the young people will work on the restoration of the
fort’s calades. And for that, you have to start by learning how to cut stones.
So general equipment for everyone, gloves, glasses.
You wedge the stone well. You just have to explain to the stone how you want it to
break. Quietly once you have made your mark, well off you go,
well she was nice that one I say. And it breaks on its own, okay? We take the testu
and gently break up the small pieces of stone that will remain. Here’s to having
something… so that’s where I’m telling you that we’re not doing sculpture, okay,
we’re not looking to have a perfect shape, we’re just looking to have a shape, a dish, ok?
Beyond learning a technique, stone cutting is a school of
precision, patience and perseverance. Christophe, is she the one?
Well listen, in terms of depth it’s not bad, in terms of the flats on each side it’s
fine, we’ll say that the top flat if with the tip of the testu you manage to remove some
small bumps it will really be well, it’s just to prevent the feet from catching
on the support, that’s important. What’s hard about cutting stone is that you
never know if the stone will break where you want it to. So we’re going to spend a quarter of an hour and twenty
minutes on a stone that we want to judge to be pretty and finally at the end the last shot for the detail
well it’s going to break so we’re going to be a little disgusted then we’re going to take another one and then
we are going to start again so as Christophe says, “the best is a bit the enemy of the good”
And here Christophe also wants to communicate
to his group the attention to detail… I am not a specialist in
stone cutting I specialized here by working on the fort I have always worked in
the building mainly in painting, but this gave me a taste for
finishing and the desire to do things to bring them to fruition
in fact until ‘at the end in fact. The cut stones are intended for a calade
on which another group is working – a calade is a Mediterranean paving
whose stones are bonded with lime. Juliette where are we?
I’m looking for a place for that one. The wedge needs to be super tight,
so if you put it in that direction, the hole is much smaller so the
stones will stay better, okay?
Ok. Benoît and Juliette thus learn
the gestures of the ancient builders. They worked in a fairly approximate manner
with the tools they had at the time, nothing is really very straight so we too
can allow ourselves a certain approximation and that’s so much the better because we’re only here 2
weeks so there is no question of becoming real calade professionals?
This is the best moment of the work, a sweep and we see our stones well assembled together we
are quite happy with ourselves. Ok young people, great work, let’s stop at the end
of the superb work, you’ve done a really good job. The Provence Côte d’Azur Youth Construction Association
, for which Christophe works, has been participating in the restoration of
Fort Royal for forty years. Before leaving the island, he
gives us an overview of the ramparts and the restorations to come.
The work that remains to be done is titanic, you see the cracks, the ramparts that are
collapsing, all of that is not possible for us, we don’t have the technique to do all of that.
A chief architect of historic monuments, Pierre Antoine Galtier, is taking care of, among other things, the
problem of fortifications – major consolidation work is being planned,
particularly here on the curtain walls, the old soldiers’ walkways.
We feel privileged while working on the fort, it’s the chance to be able to continue
what was started so long ago and to be able to leave a little bit of one’s
mark, however invisible it may be, but still, we leave a little bit of one’s mark. imprint it’s
really a great chance to work on the fort. The two weeks of work are coming to an end.
Other teenagers will come and take over during the next school holidays.
But it is on another site that we will find Christophe – no longer
on the coast… But in the hinterland. We crossed the
Estérel massif to the St Cassien lake, about fifty
kilometers from Cannes… On the hills, perched villages.
The Provence Côte d’Azur youth camps, the association for which Christophe works,
has been collaborating for seven years with the inhabitants of one of these villages…it is called Montauroux,
and it hides treasures that go back, for the most ancient, in the 11th century.
Claude and Robert, two leaders of the village’s heritage preservation association
, will show Christophe an astonishing place. Formerly owned by
Christian Dior, he bequeathed it to Montauroux shortly before his death.
Wow it’s magnificent!!! Built in the 17th century, the chapel
was completely decorated in the following century. Romain is one of our volunteers, he is in the process
of taking inventory of all the paintings. When is all this uh Romain?
This dates back to the 18th century, the entire ceiling is absolutely made of wood.
And it’s incredible that paintings on wood have lasted so long…
There is restoration work that has been done… We can see a harmony in the shades,
in the colors and in the graphics, it’s absolutely extraordinary because it is at the same
time simple and at the same time with flourishes, it is very fresh it is even naive, a little bit
in the execution Very busy very harmonious. On the walls are represented the mysteries
of the Bible, episodes from the life of Jesus. The apostles are painted with their objects
symbols here for example -St Barthélémy- So we naturally see him with his attributes
which are specific to him so the book because he was an evangelist, an apostle and then his
famous knife, you should know that In Flayed Alive, all the apostles as a general rule are
shown with the weapons that killed them. Another example here is Jacques holding
a stick because he was beaten to death.  Is it a real treasure open to the public?
So unfortunately we cannot open it except in special settings, in the
context of musical events, but otherwise we are obliged for security reasons
to naturally close it to the general public. This is why we are going to try to make
this little gem known by showing the images and making an explanation and an angiogram
of all the saints who make up this chapel. Now, let’s head to the association’s construction site.
It is located below the village. An 18th century wash house. Claude and Robert
wanted to save the remains. The very beginning of the project in 2002
before you intervened, not bad eh? C Yeah,
there’s work, huh? Well it took a bunch of enthusiasts to
be able to imagine what was underneath. Yes absolutely there was some work done.
And it had never been cleaned since 1940. Hello young people!
Good morning ! The arrival of the teenagers who
will participate in the construction site. You’re okay, it’s
okay, it’s okay!  Do you have potatoes this morning?
Yeah ! Fighting spirit ! That is good !
They come from child welfare homes in the city of Cannes.
This small group will work 4 days; then, another will succeed him.
It’s a team effort because we are preparing for the reconstruction
of the wall so the other young people who will come to do the work, they will finish what we have
started so it’s not always the same people who will come, there will be other discoveries
for other young people too. It teaches us something more in our lives. A little extra
And it’s an extra adventure – we meet people, it’s good.
It gets us out of the house a little. So.
Claude and Robert are of course involved in saving the wash house. This project is thus a
beautiful experience of communion between generations. Well, I love it, I don’t see myself getting old,
I stay with young people and I see that they’re doing something that will be useful to
everyone and that’s really the reward. In the group, a young girl, Floriane, 17 years old…
She displays impressive energy. A girl is less suited to this kind of
thing perhaps and she always puts her heart into it and she’s been going since this morning she has
n’t stopped and for me it’s really gratifying. At the same time I was a bit obliged to
come because it was the home that forced me. Yes but are you happy to be there? I
like it, it’s okay. So she puts a lot of heart into it when she
’s there. Well it’s true their daily life is a lot less fun so they could
be resistant as soon as they get there but no they let go they try
to… they ask lots of questions, they try to know and above all they want to
do what they do well. we ask them it’s really great we don’t need to say it 10 times we say it
once they understand and then it’s good. Let’s stop, let’s eat! Put the tools
on the side…we’re going to have a bite to eat. Here, Christophe’s association
and that of the village have many projects in common, such as the restoration
of a small aqueduct and even the excavation of the ruins of a fortress; their commitment
to Montauroux and its inhabitants is therefore only beginning…
200 km away, the city of Marseille… At the entrance to the old port, another
association, Acta Vista, is also dedicated to the restoration of the
military buildings of Mediterranean. Starting with Fort St Nicolas,
which the people of Marseille call the “citadel” – it was built in
1660 during the reign of Louis XIV. Signed by the Chevalier de Clerville,
Vauban’s predecessor, Fort St Nicolas had a double function. It expressed the authority of the
King over a city considered turbulent; and he blocked access to the old port.
Here, it is not young people who spend their summer holidays, but adults,
employed by the association. Among them, two women who are learning a new profession
and who, through learning ancient techniques, are inventing a new life for themselves.
Axel Efimieff, trainer. To her right, Laurence, 32 years old, and here is Kelly,
29 years old, the two women are friends. Try to take that back so
try to detach yourself from the stone. This morning, introduction to using scissors.
No need to work hard because it’s really just a rhythm
that you have to have. So I’ll start there again.
Finish there a little longer after before arriving at the corner you will continue in the other direction.
Laurence ventures first… but the blows are hesitant…
It’s not that obvious in fact… you already have to understand the rhythm.
If you want I will show you differently too. Axel, journeyman stone cutter, has his own
method for accelerated learning… Okay, we’re going to cut there in the middle so there’s
no risk of damaging the stone. You really need to understand both movements together;
because it’s something that requires a lot of time and it’s true that during the time
they’re on the construction sites there’s not much time happening so we’re forced to constantly adapt
our learning methodology and that’s it. This is so that what I found as a
solution is to do what I am doing now: it is I who have already
acquired this rhythm, it is first of all to take control of the person make her feel
this rhythm and gradually allow her to continue to follow this movement.
It’s okay, take it from me now. I don’t see anything
No, but it’s feeling, for the moment it’s not seeing, it’s really
what’s happening between the two movements. You see, exaggerating there,
okay, go ahead… And an hour later, there is already progress… There,
it’s much better, take off your scissors and… look, you see, you’re starting to acquire
your gesture and to keep your chisel straight, you can see straight away what’s happening,
immediately you’re much straighter, okay, go ahead and continue. Is this your
first time doing catering?
ITW Laurence Rago (Acta Vista employee) No, in the past I have already done restoration
of old furniture, I did cabinetmaking, I worked with different
materials, so I like manual work and then the size of Pierre it’s something that was
totally unknown to me and so well it was an opportunity and so here I am here and I
‘m very happy because it allows me at the same time to acquire new experiences
It’s the turn of Kelly, both unemployed – at the end of their rights – with this training, which is also
paid, they have new horizons – and even a joint business project.
You see there is a bump, so try to remove that bump.
ITW Kelly (Acta Vista employee): There is an artistic side that does not displease me
to the extent that I am a musician and that there is some similarity with music, there is
already a rhythm so when you have a metronome in your head eh well we try to find this link with the
artistic and musical side. And the fact of being able to then why not create a company in
the manufacturing of decorative objects since I also have this profession in my career,
interior decoration, well there at the moment it’s decoration of ‘outside,
well that’s some additional training. Run your hand over and try to
feel where you have bumps. Tell me where you see bumps without looking.
Kelly the musician, Laurence the cabinetmaker, as well as Marius, who works alongside them,
are only at the beginning of their apprenticeship. We can’t do this all our life if we
‘re not passionate, and what we put into it is ultimately us because we leave
traces, it’s our moods of the moment that we ‘ll see appear, it is our understanding,
it is things that are a little bit unspeakable when we look at an old building with old
stones we see tool blows carried and these tool blows are men who are
behind and they are there put their energy into it and it’s true that it ends up showing.
For Axel, transmitting the art of  carving here has real meaning – the fort
is in fact linked to his personal history. Working on such a prestigious site, steeped
in history as Fort St Nicolas, is something exceptional for me. And frankly
there’s quite a pirouette because as a teenager, I remember, I was walking past here, it was
still the legion that was there and then a few years later suddenly I was offered to
work on the fort and now badaboom I’m restoring it and I’ve been there for 7 years.
1 p.m., preparing lunch, Kelly is in the kitchen.
Do you have to know how to do everything on a construction site? Yes and even change the perfume because
today it’s “Fleur de braise” In total on Fort St Nicolas there are around
forty employees Is that good?
Delicious, they are well seasoned… We’re going to change, no, I’m just kidding!! a
new job!!! the size of the chop!!!! We will meet Laurence and Kelly again in a few
months on the other major Acta Vista project, a place where Axel is now going with Arnaud
Castagnède, the director of the association. Opposite the city, fifteen minutes of
navigation, here are the islands of Frioul, the defensive belt of Marseille for centuries.
So there you see we are approaching the islands of Frioul so we can see the Château d’If which had
been built on the orders of François I. And then we can also see the Lazaret des
Îles hospital which is located on the part of the island which is called Ratonneau and on which we have been working
since December 2007 as part of its restoration through an integration project .
So it’s a real journey through history in a 15 minute space on the shuttle.
The Lazaret of Ratonneau Island, better known as “Caroline Hospital”; for three years,
it has been restored by the association’s employees. Its ruins look very old, one might
think that they date from Greek antiquity… But in reality their history
is much more recent… The whole thing was in fact built in the 19th century
– more precisely in 1823. Marseille then faced an epidemic of yellow fever and it was
absolutely necessary to remove the sick to treat them outside the city. They are therefore quarantined
here, off the coast of Marseille, at the Caroline hospital. In the center, a chapel built
on the model of the Greek temple… Olivier Campistron, the companion who
manages the site explains the reason. What is very special here is that
this building is not at all like the others. In fact Michel Robert Penchaud
wanted to make this building a tribute to the city of Marseille and its Greek origins. That’s
why it’s a Doric-style Greek temple. The Caroline hospital is divided into two
parts, one where the sick were locked up , the other where those
who had survived rested. The entire island was placed under the authority of the military.
This hospital was called the hospital of the wind because what was said, the medical theory of
the time was that diseases were transported by the air, we called that miasmas. And so the
patients were told that they must ventilate their space as much as possible so that we don’t have these
miasmas which come to contaminate people. They had calculated that in general there was one in
two who survived and therefore among the sick you had perhaps 48 places and on the other side
you must have 24. It was estimated that out of 48 patients there would be 24 convalescents.
Olivier and his team are working on the reconstruction of one of the pavilions where
the sick were once locked up. On the site around fifty
employees – they train for 6 months in catering professions.
It’s physical, it’s hard but hey, at the end of a day we’re happy to see
what we’ve done. It’s a chance that is given to us, we are trusted, we are taught a
profession that is becoming more and more lost and that’s it. I would like to continue with that, yeah…
This morning I’m laying the beams on the first floor… I’m very impressed
because all the same, when you see the stone pillars, each stone weighs 250 kilos, it’s
still laid down to the millimeter and being able to do this work with people who initially have
no qualifications, I think it’s great, now it also requires having
extremely precise work procedures, which we ca n’t afford to do. no matter what. But I mean there is
reason to have faith in human nature. This time we place the
beam and the game is over. This work is long-term, the
end of the project is planned for 2018. It is certain that we contribute to restoring the
heritage but I admit that personally what interested me in coming here was
the meaning that is to say that I really like heritage but I think that today if at the
same time as we rebuild heritage we still help people to rebuild themselves,
I think that for my part at least , it’s more interesting. I am no longer satisfied
today with simple heritage, I believe that we must go beyond, we must go beyond.
Soon, Laurence and Kelly will complete their training at Caroline Hospital.
We will come back with them… But first, let’s head for the creeks…
More precisely, here we are in the heart of the Morgiu cove, about ten kilometers
from the center of Marseille. The know-how of the association is today of interest to the
National Forestry Office, whose agents are responsible for this marvelous natural site.
Because the creeks are also vestiges of architecture – this morning, the team will
examine a military fort from the time of Bonaparte – its fortifications
merge with the rock… The place is only accessible by road. sea
and it then takes ¾ of an hour to walk to reach the remains of this stronghold.
They are very damaged – and the ONF would like to see them saved with a view to the
upcoming classification of the site as a natural national park. There we arrive at the low wall of the 19th century fort
that the French built to defend themselves against English attacks in the 19th century.
Some stones do not come from the coves – they were brought here at
the time of the construction of the fortifications… No, you’re right, it’s
crown stone but yellow this time. At the level of the batteries, there must
have been hoists to raise barrels of water or materials to
bring materials such as stone… So they would have made hoists
from the sea to the top Exactly
at the same time they have used sparingly because they are only found in embrasures.
We’re going to look at the battery because I think there will be…
The fort was built during the revolution when General Bonaparte was fighting
against the British navy… the English who were then masters of Toulon
about sixty kilometers away… Of the fortifications, only a few
things remain and the tourist numbers… summer accelerates this deterioration.
Axel and Arnaud’s mission is to consider consolidation to
guarantee the safety of visitors… There we can clearly see there is a hole in the walls, the work
unfortunately of pedestrian tourists who come a little too close to the wall and which move
the stones which slowly loosen and which then leave a big gash. So it
seems important to us at least to stabilize what we have to prevent it from deteriorating because
it deteriorates very quickly knowing that there are more and more people who are interested in
the creeks and rightly so look the landscape is a magnificent, wonderful site, even more so
if one day it becomes a national park, it will be even more highlighted and therefore
in my opinion it is time to think about at least a stabilization of what is already
existing and why not a restoration. Axel and Arnaud assess the scale
of the work. For the association this is an opportunity: the people who would
participate in this project would learn here to get by with a few things…
They would thus touch on the foundations of the profession. It is a site that can be very educational
so that teams working on historic monuments can also come and touch
stone, touch dry stone, dry stone construction, come and
build scree that would also allow them to see the source also the basis of the profession.
The stones do not always arrive cubic as we can see them on other construction sites. There
we really work with the means at hand. We leave the Calanques, the
Acta Vista team has another meeting… About a hundred kilometers further
east, opposite the town of Hyères, is the island of Porquerolles…
A place where François 1st, then Cardinal Richelieu had
several military buildings built – because the island then occupied a strategic place.
One of these forts is located on a small islet, at the end of Porquerolles – the “little
lobster boat”, it is seriously in danger. It is he who will interest
Axel, Arnaud and Olivier. They are going there this morning with
Marc Frilet and his wife. With a couple of friends, they obtained a
long lease for forty years for the fort of the little lobster boat. They don’t pay
rent, but have to restore the place. It is essential for restoration to understand
that the sea is a real problem and that access to a place where there is no landing stage
will always be very difficult, so if you are not a sailor it is almost impossible to be able to get
there. go on a regular basis and we have all the problems in the world.
The fort was built in 1634, it belongs to this defensive line, wanted
by Richelieu, to counter the Spanish fleet… Here, everything has to be done and the difficulties
will be numerous… But Marc and Edith are enthusiasts, who spend their holidays
always on the island of Porquerolles. And there it really appears in all its splendor,
especially with this light. It is on an island, it has a certain length and at the front it
really looks like the bow of a ship, a real stone ship and it has been sitting there for almost 4 centuries
and what is there extraordinary because it is on an island, is that despite everything it is
so well preserved because people have not come to take the stones one after the other.
The sea is often bad in this place, which considerably complicates access
to the fort. One day out of two on average, it is impossible to disembark on the island.
The stone of the fort was eaten away by sea water; Axel delivers a first diagnosis.
Well, the surrounding walls are still very sick, because there is almost
nothing left, they have been completely gutted by the wind, completely eaten away, so it is
becoming very dangerous there, eh. And in terms of volume of stones that’s still
a lot of volume if I understand correctly. Ah, it’s astronomical how much
stone is going to be needed afterwards… we’ll have to see what’s fallen if there’s
enough left to be able to do it. On this island the most astonishing place is
the interior of the tower. Edith and Marc already have some ideas about the future of this place.
So here we are exactly in the heart you see you are right under the oculus, which today is of no
use but which is magnificent, is that in fact it was the only entrance into this tower
at ​​the test, everything else was these walls which were 5 to 6 meters high and these openings
did not exist. That’s where there were the water reserves, that’s where there were the
barrels of powder and all the food and they went in from the top and then they were
there to hold in this strong until   they have no more life. And the idea is that
everything had been calculated so that they could hold out long enough for the reinforcements to
attack the attackers, that’s the basic principle of proof towers.
I have the impression that this is humidity? The first thing is to restore
the waterproofing or check the waterproofing of the terrace. Afterwards, when we have taken over the walls from
the outside, from then on there will be no more worries. We would like to make it a sort of common room,
so it won’t be a private place, it will be a place that will be shared, there will probably be a
library, there will probably be a place to live. And then the sound is so extraordinary
that we will undoubtedly make it a place to listen to music and songs.
Look at this, it just fell less than a month ago…
In times of peace, when the fort was not under siege, the officers had their quarters on the
first floor… At any time, they could therefore take refuge through the ‘oculus in the tower to the test.
Then we have 2 rooms which are officer’s rooms, in one of them there
was a cannon with little recoil and we then have the 3 other embrasures where there were the
cannons, one facing the ground if there were invaders coming from Porquerolles, the other
facing east if there were invaders passing this point and the third then
also very precisely facing the place where the pass is narrowest and with the cannons
of the time, they could successfully cross the fires with the fort which was opposite the
Pradot battery in such a way as to completely prohibit the entry of the pass to all boats
that wanted to cross without authorization. The Restoration of the Petit Langoustier will be
an adventure, the conditions of access, the transport of the stones, the resupply
will all be grounds for complications. A titanic task full of unknowns,
think Arnaud, Axel and Olivier; Marc, however, always has a solution to offer…
And once you have found the stones, how do we get them here?
So the problem, where it is calmest, here very quickly at 30 meters there is
only 1.50 meters of depth so a barge cannot come. So what we are trying to see is
if a barge could come to this place and then this place is exceptional, you see
this rock which has been cut and well there was certainly this place a pontoon 100,
200 or 300 years ago. No one has yet managed to find out how far this pontoon went. But what we
think is that when they built the fort, the barges were brought there, there
was probably a pontoon and from there, they managed with wooden cranes to
raise the materials on this place. Acta vista’s expertise was decisive; but
bringing employees here from Marseille, for a project lasting at least
one year, seems difficult. Marc, Edith and their friends will therefore
call on local craftsmen, but they will remain in contact with Arnaud, Axel and Olivier.
Three months later, return to Marseille – early winter morning on the old port…
Axel takes to the sea with Kelly, the musician and her friend Laurence, the former
cabinetmaker – the two young women he trains to the size of stone since last summer.
Kelly and Laurence now have a little more experience, and they want more than
ever to make it their career. And this is the building that Olivier is
restoring. So it’s about cutting them that will be for where there is the scaffolding.
Destination: Caroline hospital… It remains open in fact there is no
roof after here that’s what they are going to do, upstairs you have the pillars on which we are going to
place the capitals that you are going to cut and then on top there will be all the framework
and the roofing which will come on the building. Kelly and Laurence have prepared marquees
for the reconstruction of one of the buildings on the island… But until now,
they have never worked on it. It’s eight o’clock, the construction site is about to begin.
Laurence and Kelly will complete the size of the capitals, which will then be placed
on the top floor of this building, on these pillars… The two women are now independent… They
have just signed a new six- month contract with the association, to improve.
I didn’t feel capable of being able to do that. Finally, with patience,
time and concentration we can achieve results.
Kelly still lacks self-confidence and Axel guides her to greater mastery of the gesture.
Final adjustments before installation… Olivier, the hospital site manager,
Caroline comes to see the result. He is the most experienced of the team.
Very good young ladies, this one is almost done…
They are doing well because it is not easy to work
so quickly and cleanly. Because the molding is beautiful.
Worthy of a companion?! Oh, we’re not going to get upset either,
we have to give them time to arrive. They are apprentices, it takes more
than 6 months to learn this profession. We were told that this profession takes
ten years to master. So, they learned how to cut a molding, that’s good,
but the road is still long. Let’s say that the first steps are rather promising.
This is the decisive moment: the installation of the capitals. An important moment for Kelly and Laurence,
because the installation requires particular know-how – the cutting of the stones must be
very careful, carried out in the rule of the art, so that the capitals find their
place at the top of the pillars. In fact, everything they have done so
far will only have meaning and value if at the break it sticks, if it doesn’t stick it
means we have a problem. So it’s the “Moment of truth” moment
Let’s go before the wind blows us away
Wait, slowly raise it up, you ‘ll see that it doesn’t line up A
few more adjustments… And the mass is said, there you go look a little
below because we have to see that we have the breaks from above but they will be seen
from below so we must always reverse the look and not be satisfied… We must
put this in its place of the one who looks. The one is good. Nickel nothing to say.
The work was successful. In six months we managed to obtain
professional work. So we have a very flattered ego on the one hand and then a huge boost in motivation.
To create our business and then continue to form. Anyway in
any job… his life. So off to a good start, Arnaud, the founder of
the association, may be satisfied… First successful attempt for Kelly
and Laurence, it’s encouraging. Today they have acquired a certain number
of skills and what’s more, they want to create their own businesses. So today
we are going to help them create their businesses and that is the very essence of an
integration project. There is not only the technical result, there is also the
human result and that is the one that matters to us. As much as one as the other in fact.
Through the restoration of heritage, through this rediscovery of the riches of the
past, Kelly and Laurence are inventing a future for themselves. We are now leaving about fifty
kilometers from Bordeaux, to discover the Etang
de Cousseau Nature Reserve, which is managed by an environmental protection association.
600 hectares of great biodiversity – a summary of all the landscapes of the
Landes… there is a pond, marshes, and dunes covered with forests…
A place which is essentially closed to the public – it is a comprehensive protection zone
for fauna and flora – only agents of the reserve have the right to access here.
Once a week, François Sargos, the curator of the reserve,
makes his inspection tour… A small notebook to write down. It’s absolutely
essential, binoculars are still better, a pencil must never be forgotten, a pencil
is a basic working tool and a GPS in case I make a new discovery it
could be a plant or something else . This allows me to precisely note the location of this
discovery because there are sites in the reserves where we have no reference point,
this is particularly the case in the marsh. François observes the evolution of plants and
counts animals – today is the beginning of autumn, and he impatiently awaits
the return of the first migratory birds. And here is good news, the first cranes
are here. The first eight cranes have just arrived. Right in the middle of the swamp.
The first eight of the season. Common cranes come from
northern European countries – they spend the winter in the region… in the reserve, which is
located on a migration corridor, there are more of them every year.
I’m looking for traces of the otter’s passage. On the other hand, the wild boars are doing well, we see.
François continues his tour, along the Cousseau pond.
Here, we have a beautiful… royal cover… it is also very protected in
many regions of France. But not here, because it is abundant. It can be more than 2m to
2m50 high. It grows on moist, acidic sand. So she is right in her
place, in her favorite habitat. For twenty years, François has managed and
protected this sanctuary – his role is to help nature flourish
in the best possible conditions. This small portion of the moors does not look like,
seen from an airplane, the rest of the region – and for good reason, it is a natural, spontaneous forest, well-
armed therefore, in the face of all attacks. In the more than thirty years that the
reserve has existed, we have never observed a parasitic attack. So
we have a forest that is very resilient. So the main reason is that all
you see around you is that we have a mixed forest. We do indeed have
maritime basins that rise just as high, but underneath there are oaks,
holm oaks. If you look towards the fund you will also see seagrass plants. We have a
relatively diverse forest in terms of species. The forest here protects itself; it does not
actually need human or chemical intervention, which can also be
harmful to the rest of the fauna. Change of scenery: a few
kilometers from the Cousseau reserve, here is a very different…
Here, the pines were planted in a straight line, inside rectangular plots.
This immense domain is a forest of production, created by the hand of man. Right
here, one hundred and fifty years ago, there were vast expanses of marshes and pastures… a
very poor region where men were shepherds and women cultivated plots of land…
In the middle of the 19th century, the shepherds of the Landes went disappear… following
a decision by Napoleon III. The moor is then planted with maritime pines…
Today, they cover more than a million hectares – it is the largest
forest massif in Europe…it is here that Hurricane Klaus struck , in January 2009.
Wind gusts to 160km/h; 300,000 hectares of forest are devastated…
In the heart of the Landes department, near the village of Sabres, we
now arrive at the epicenter of the 2009 storm, where it struck with the most intensity.
Essentially these are production forests, intended to provide
wood for industry… François visits Gilles de Chassy – he
has lost, in certain places on his property, 90% of his trees…
Today Today, almost a year after the hurricane, he finally found a
buyer for some of the wood that had fallen to the ground. The buyer came with this
impressive machine. A sad spectacle, for Gilles de Chassy.
For the moment he leaves the trees which are standing? “Yes for the moment yes”. At
first it is the trees which no longer have any value and which will even go that way where we
have the impression that there are 5 or 6 meters of height usable for the sawmill. They will
go to the paper industry or the panel industry because they have been
twisted, damaged, the fibers have been deteriorated, twisted by the winds. Therefore
this cannot go to the carpentry. On land, there are 30,000 tonnes of wood here.
On this plot we are, you have approximately the age of its trees you have 250 and 300
trees per hectare now you have twenty, thirty maybe… well I mean
there is no more meaning, no more meaning . It is no longer a cultivated forest,
it is no longer a production forest. The Gilles de Chassy trees
were almost mature – they were around fifty years old.
This is why we have to redo everything. Gilles de Chassy plans to
grow part of his pines differently; less fertilizer, fewer genetically
improved trees, he wants to let nature take its course. This is how he imagines the future of his forest. .
It is a forest that is passed down from family to family and this notion of a family forest is important
. It’s not an industry, we are wood producers, but it’s not an
industry that can… then we can’t go abroad with the forest under our arms, can we
? This is not relocation at the time we are talking about the greenhouse effect. We are the best
clean factory, there is no cleaner factory than us which produces wood every day,
silently, without polluting which releases oxygen and which absorbs carbon dioxide. We still
need to be aware of it. Trees devastated by the hurricane
are sold off – and maritime pine producers are sometimes ruined.
For François, it is urgent to invent another model, inspired by his
experience at the Cousseau pond. Because for him, the nature reserve is an
open-air laboratory where he tries experiments that could
be repeated elsewhere… For example, he has reintroduced Landes cows here
, with the help of the Conservatoire des Races d’acquitaine, an association who
advocates for biological diversity. A herd of Landes cows, an
endangered species, to which he attaches great importance.
She regularly breaks her horns, they also beat. When you see the
head, it’s relatively fine heads with a little bun. Its cows are the last
to represent the Landes marine breed, or small dune cows which were found here on
the entire coast until the beginning of the 20th century. Quite widespread and then
during the war they were also hunted quite regularly
for the implementation of maritime plans and then during the war the German troops could
not stand their cows wandering on the dunes and on the edge of the river. beach because it risks
jumping on the mines so they were slaughtered This afternoon, weighing of the cows in the reserve,
to find out if they are expecting babies… When their weight clearly exceeds
the average, it’s a good sign… François is counting increase the number
of the herd… because the cows play a role here in the balance of the ecosystem. They are
in fact true organic mowers. Here is freedom… This is the landscape of other
times: large moors as far as the eye can see with an air of savannah. They are tall
green grasses in summer. Beautiful landscapes to which we are particularly attached.
Saï means “comes” in Gascon. These are very comfortable cows, very
alert, very lively. They were recovered about twenty years ago a little more
now and we have them reproduce on different sites always in a Landes environment
and therefore appropriated in their original environment and have the selections and today we
have around forty animals of a fairly typical type and we are also going to reintegrate
someone on Cousseaux soon. Ah so that’s a Pirouge cow, there were
Pirouge cows also at the time and then we’re going to see a cow that’s a little more fierce
The cows, the moors and the swamps – images of a bygone time,
the people thought. inhabitants of the area… Likewise the goats and sheep had been
long gone – until their reintroduction into the moorland forest
a year ago. We are right next to the Etang de Cousseau reserve.
These are local breeds since they are Pyrene goats and then Landes sheep.
These are breeds that practically no longer exist apart from a conservation herd like
this one. This is particularly interesting since the Landes sheep have not only
particularly disappeared but also in this type of original environment in the moor,
on the pafs, in the poor places of the moor that we know well everywhere here . So they
are hardy animals and particularly adapted to feeding on
poor vegetation, vegetation based on molinia, tors oats, it also eats a…
things that farm sheep do not do. The herds of sheep, which once populated
the moors, had to give way to the forest, 150 years ago now. Until this
experiment, carried out by the Leyssart farm and supported by François. 2000 goats and
sheep roam the region for six months. Classically in young forests,
tractors are not used to clean between the strips. And there we see the work that
the goats and sheep do. This is the buckthorn which is consumed with some
small leaves remaining. This is a first year, a month ago when they arrived it was
completely closed. We couldn’t see anything at all… and now we’re starting to see it going. So we
can imagine the work in two or three grazing seasons to completely clean the
pine alleys. Which is good for the pines, because there is the manure brought today
by the goats which will help or not to grow with more vigor and then what allows
to resolve the brush in the forest. Fires, the other enemy of
Landes pines. The deadliest forest fire in the history of France
caused 82 deaths here in August 1949. Fire extract.
We must now evaluate the effects on the forest of the return of animals to
the forest – this is the task of a friend of François, Marie Dominique Ribereau-Gayon. Before considering
the continuation of this experiment, she studies its consequences on the Landes landscape.
In the history of the moors, the pine and the sheep are enemies, worse enemies.
I recently saw that in the sharecropping contracts of a certain commune where there have
been no sheep for 60 years. In the 70s and 80s it was expressly stipulated in the
sharecropping contracts that sheep should not be left to graze, this remains in the texts.
You know we had the same problem in Cousseaux when we wanted to put the cows in, we had
small plots of land which were in state forest and which were grazed by the same cows.
And the ONF brought out its old texts, 15 years ago, saying grazing is prohibited in forests. So
we were still in the 1950s mentality. We always stayed with the same idea. In
fact we can see if it is well managed, well controlled there is no problem.
Hurricane Klaus and the shock it caused encourages this type of initiative…
Since the storm, there has been a situation which has made people ask questions and we
are no longer in a single linear pattern. There are different choices, so why not grazing in
the woods. This ultimately creates jobs. This provides social and environmental services. This
can also be an attraction why not. After the death of the forest, the resurrection.
A few days later François will show us the most beautiful
natural forest in the region. The La Teste forest – one of the
oldest in the Landes – is inseparable from its illustrious neighbor, the famous Pilat dune.
Both have been classified sites for 15 years. An association defends this forest – Virgile,
with whom François has a meeting today, has given himself the mission of
protecting it from possible tourist projects which could disfigure it…
Which does not mean that he wants exclude man from the forest, because the inhabitants of the commune
have for centuries had the right to take a few trees for their personal use…
The forest of La Teste is 4000 years old and man settled there years ago about six centuries ago, when
the lord of the surrounding area granted his vassals the right to cut wood and the right to
collect resin from the pines – on the condition, however, that the forest was not
destroyed, that is to say that gives it time to regenerate naturally.
Result: trees powerfully rooted in the “Majestueux – François C.” dunes which
therefore withstood the storm of 2009 well. So pines live old. It’s
a beautiful forest and you feel good there. We saw very few trees fall, even though we are
not far from the ocean and it took the full force of winds of over 150-180 km/h.
So these are stable forests, living forests. It’s interesting, these are beautiful
models made of old spontaneous, natural forests which have been there for centuries and
which can continue their lives quietly if we give them the opportunity.
Indeed, this is the fight of our association, how to do this in so that
our children and grandchildren also know this forest in its conditions.
You know here we don’t have a castle, a bastille, a cathedral. Our
cathedral is this forest The La Teste forest slows down the extension
of its neighbor, the Pilat dune. The sand still advances by 3 meters on average
every year, and it slowly swallows up the tall pines that block its way.
The Pilat dune, Virgile and François are now going there… by sea, because
it is the most beautiful way to approach it, but also because historically, the forest
occupied more space than ‘today… We must imagine that the current dimension has
varied at different times. The forest could have won in one direction or another if
I’m not mistaken and so we can imagine under the basin there may be remains of
forests. So we are above a forest. The Pilat dune is the largest
dune in Europe… it welcomes 1 million visitors every year.
Its dimensions are considerable: 500 meters wide over a length of three kilometers… It culminates at 107 meters high…
Remains of an old pine tree which has passed under the dune. You can clearly see the bark. It is several centuries old…
Virgil and Francis climb the ridge line. We can see the confrontation between
this enormous quantity of sand and the forest. We discover the aquanauper of the
Landes forest as far as the eye can see. On 180 degree.
The Pilat dune is approximately sixty million tons of sand…
Here the dynamic is natural, so the wind continues to bring masses of sand
and throws them behind on the forest. In any case we cannot prevent the
projection of the wind, we cannot prevent the projection of the dune. And so this
actually poses a problem a little further on we have a campsite which backs onto the dune and which
are gradually being buried by the dunes and which are now asking for repair or compensation
to be able to export their activity further afield. But the problem is that we have nothing to do with it. It
’s very good that the dune is moving forward so we’re not going to ask to move in with our neighbor.
The pila dune is a local monument, I think it has gone well beyond the borders of the region
and we can only be attached to it. It would be difficult to do otherwise, especially when
you are born here you are deeply attached to the landscape and the sand. Quite simply, at the
dune. These are things that are beautiful, you can see for yourself. There
is a special atmosphere. Space, lots of space, lots of sky and then
a feeling of freedom in its regions. The next day, an hour’s
drive from the Pilat dune… We are in the heart of the production forest,
these thousands of maritime pines promised to the wood and paper industry.
François will introduce us to an initiative that could contribute to the
renewal of the Landes de Gascogne… it involves the construction of logs…
The logs are these solid wood houses , made of stacked tree trunks,
which we simply removed the bark… The only fustier in the Landes is called Philippe
Bray – he discovered wooden construction in Alaska, then trained in this
new profession on his return to France. So it’s a lot of concentration work.
Already the first precision comes from tracing, obviously after the precision of the cutting.
What is important is to have a precision tracer and we will therefore have the wood which
will join perfectly soon. And what is the condition of waterproofing.
Philippe is a master in handling the chainsaw – after tracing, he makes
a cut – then he will hollow out the trunk… So there, the objective is to remove the
material from the bottom and now it’s by hand . You must not damage the lips,
the end is what will provide the seal. Philippe has been building barrels for
four years – and it’s a profession that he practices with enthusiasm and conviction.
In fact, it’s simple, we sequester carbon for decades, we put it
in the walls. The tree throughout its life has filtered carbon dioxide it has
created carbon and when its life ends 60-70 years it will rot, fall
etc…. we stabilize it and put it in the houses. And the carbon footprint of a
house is fantastic. If we compare it in a single house we will store in
the house what four houses in pine screen, in derived concrete products.
We store this in one house. We save the atmosphere. So that’s fantastic,
then there is another important element, transport, we are in the middle of the massif
Intervention François C. “you go and look for local products and you build with the
local material that the city offers us here. nature. » Landes massif, maritime pines , Landes pines
. We order, we receive our trees. They did what 25-30km maximum.
So the energy we spent on this is minimal. Then we can transform the wood,
it’s there, I have a team, there are three of us. Three craftsmen! We have the chainsaw, there is no factory
with incredible releases of CO2. We build a house with extremely simple things and
human know-how. A crane incidentally because they are extremely heavy. From
there we have a house. The equation is very simple. We are here at
Philippe Bray’s assembly site, where the house is assembled for the first time –
the operation lasts between four and five months. It will then be dismantled, then installed for
good on the land of the future owners. In a few months the house being
built should look like this one. It is a tower completed and has been inhabited for a
year by a couple… They are convinced ecologists and the choice of this architecture
is a militant act. Catherine Sanchez is a writer and the least we can
say is that she is in love with her house. A log is made with lots of trees. I
don’t know how many there are but there are a lot. And its trees are such that they can be
found in the forest. So I’m in the forest. Here the trunks are not treated. They
are not cut into boards. Mine in any case are not planed. They are as they
are as is. And that’s what I like too.   It’s this authentic aspect. From time to time I
also find myself touching them, caressing them. I touch them as I would touch the flank of
such a horse. It’s alive and like these are very old trees, it’s also our heritage.
It is also a historical heritage in the same way as a stone house that will have been through a
lot. They saw lots of things. To build a log like this, you
need solid trees, at least sixty years old, and naturally they have to be
large… In short, real trees that could populate a beautiful forest.
If we build logs, we will age the pines and at that moment we will have
a sumptuous forest from our childhood. Or we also let the undergrowth grow.
We will soon meet Philippe again, to witness the final assembly of the house
that he is currently making… but first, we will have one last meeting –
François wants to introduce us to another lover of the Landes forest – a lover who
also imagines a different future for the region. Today I’m going to meet Claude
Courau who is a former gemmer. That is to say, a person who has spent his whole life harvesting
resin from pine trees and who is an exciting and passionate character and is experimenting with
new methods of harvesting resin. He is seeking to revive this activity in the forest.
We’ll get there soon. We are in the Porge forest. Until the 1950s, resin was the
primary resource of the Landes forest. Then, petroleum products replaced it, for the
manufacturing of glues, paints and varnishes. Claude Courau, the man we are going to
meet, is fighting for the return of the gemmers. With his wife, he invented a
new process for collecting resin. This is my wife, Raymonde
Claude Courrau, 73 years old. That’s it, we’ve removed the bark and
now I’m going to do what we call a pike. Now I’m going to
put the paste, it’s a neutral activator. A product that increases the quantity of resin
generated by the pine, without altering its quality. For me, harvesting the resin in a so-called
ecological way. With natural products which will lead to job creation
and I will have achieved my dream. The resin flows into this pocket but is protected from
air and is protected from any dirt. So we have a product of a quality that we have
never been able to achieve until now. With this high purity resin,
industrialists are now considering the manufacture of road coatings
and anti-slip paints; the pharmacy sector is also interested.
Currently you have the pine and you cut it in 50 years provided that there is no fire, the
storm and that they sell it at a good price and until then it has not brought in anything on the contrary it has only
cost. We will return to the golden tree where the gemmage was the best resource of the Landes forest
If the future proves Claude Courreau right, the Landes pine could make a
comeback. Today considered a low-end material, it
would regain its former nickname, the golden tree. At the beginning of the 20th century, 30,000 people
practiced the profession of gemmer in the Landes.
. Me when I actually see
all the pine trees as far as the eye can see. The abundance of the gemma makes me think of an immense
orchard whose fruit is allowed to go to waste. This is quite interesting because putting all your eggs in
one basket is never favorable so seeing the potential and profitability of
the forest multiply will allow the forest to be kept in place. It is desirable in any case.
Two months later, Philippe, the fustier, finished manufacturing the house,
on his site – he dismantled it and transported it a hundred kilometers…
until here, in Carcan Plage – it was reassembled in this subdivision, where the houses are
all built entirely of wood… Each trunk is numbered, and finds a
precise location at the time of assembly. To perfect the waterproofing of the house, Philippe
and his team insert hemp wool inside each trunk – it is a
100% organic insulation. François lends a hand. So we will soon be ready for installation.
It’s a nice moment when we put the log down. When you know it’s for a long time. Everything is
assembled with self-locking notches. So when we put a barrel it comes to put it
in place and all the notches are self-locking and find their place. In the
walls there are no screws that hold or anything. As a result, it is a completely
recyclable house. Let’s imagine a lifespan of 6 centuries. In a few years we want more of this
house, we will take a chainsaw and everything we have we will make firewood.
The wood has not been treated with any products that must be reprocessed. It
was processed organically. It’s really a natural product and we can burn this wood.
In any case, we could use it for something else. Even if it is very marginal in the Landes massif.
It’s interesting because it’s symbolic of the fact that we’re using old trees, trees
that have grown slowly. Quality trees. To grow this type of wood, we
also preserve the forest, biodiversity, the quality of water, air, soil and the environment. And I
believe that obviously there is a path to be explored. In any case, the Landes forest
will only be able to do this this way. This is Philippe Bray’s eighth achievement
– ​​he will soon build two other large houses in the region.
If this type of architecture were to catch on, more large and
old trees would be needed, and this would be a new outlet for maritime pines – an
additional avenue for the Landes of tomorrow…