Monuments to visit Alpes

This fountain is located on the Lesdiguières square. It was built in 1548 in pink marble, from the old quarry of Salados, below the needles of Chabrières.

Always sheltered by its water ditches, this castle fully restored on 15 acres, accessed via a drawbridge, is dominated by a squat and impressive keep. The interior is up, with an interesting decoration and architecture.

It is a tunnel closely monitored since the 1999 disaster - reassuring, therefore - and long 11,6 kilometres, between Chamonix and Courmayeur. Only the width of the tube, which could not be changed, still seems too narrow for the eternal claustrophobes. But for all the rest, what improvements: better lighting and overhaul of the ventilation system, a 100-metre drive, a mid-term rescue station, a combination of French and Italian control rooms and, above all, the construction of an independent evacuation gallery under the road. More fun, the tail of vehicles at the counter: you will have the impression of taking the start of a ski competition, with front of you the small barrier that displays on screen the time allotted before your departure. 10, 9, 8, 7… When it rises, you can start up to the limit speed of 70 km/h and with a spacing of 150 metres between each vehicle, which now seems very well respected. The reason? The multiplication of surveillance cameras, such as tickets.

The old feudal castle dominates the village of Xiith. You will see the remains of two round towers as well as several crosspieces windows. This monument, which is very dilapidated, dates back to the th century.

The high tower, built on a tomb, is located in a place suitable for monitoring the valley, and where the defence is facilitated by three sides on the steep slope. Here the houses were built on one side, thus benefiting from the protection of the castle. The oblong tower is raised on the side of the attack and flat side, rather rare for a medieval dungeon. Forming a kind of shield, the wall of the rounded part is very thick (approximately two metres). The entrance door is also a few meters high. Today, through the reconstruction of the tower and the absence of a boulin hole, it is impossible to know whether there is a wooden bridge, a removable scale or a round road.

The small castle of Bruis was erected in 1669. Today, there is only one circular tower at the north-west angle. Apart from this special feature, it consists of a simple body of storey houses on which two wings of common buildings are combined. The court is closed by a wall in return, closing the castral universe. This symbolic building of local power succeeds the th century quadrangular tower on the nearby hill. The latter, which has long secured the protection of the primitive village of Bruis lying at its feet, was built in flat stone laid on the widest bed. With the advent of modern times, the fortifications have left room for buildings that allow for the exercise of an agricultural activity, thus ensuring the master of places, domination based on material prosperity, and not on weapons.

Chabestan has two castles. The first seems to be dating from the th century. It is composed of a body of accommodation, once stretched with four towers. The other castle also includes a large body of accommodation, located on the bottom of a large courtyard. On the left there are stables and discounts on its right, a chapel dedicated to Saint Antoine de Padua. It was founded and built around 1650 by Jacques Amat, former lord of the village.

It is on a nipples near the village you will find the ruins of the old Seigneurial castle of Vitrolles called the Châtelart. It was formerly composed of two parts. The first, older, was only a tower, built with a well-appareillées cubic stone and camée on the highest point of the hill in the th century. Below you will see a large construction of the th century whose plan appears to have been an elongated parallelogram with a round tower at each angle. In the th century it will be added a building body that saillie on the facade. On a mound, near the Plan-de-Vitrolles, the remains of a castle built in small stones reign, as well as the debris of an old castle on the sides of the adjacent mountain. An elevation crowned by the beautiful ruins of the convent of Donzard, formerly belonging to the Templar, is visible to the north-west of the church of Upper Vitrolles. See also: the church of the Plan Plan, dedicated to the nativity, and the church of Vitrolles, dedicated to Saint Michel.

It was here that the poet-novelist composed her famous poem Paradis à Amphion. On the shores of Lake Geneva, the small pink stone temple houses a central column bearing a golden urn in its rotunda. It contains the heart of Anna de Noailles. It is engraved with a quatrain composed by the poetess and destined for her sepulchral temple. The votive monument, signed by the architect Jose Emilio Terry, was erected in the garden of the Villa Bassara where she stayed for the last time in 1916.

The Roche-la-Croix site is a set of stone masonry (th century) and reinforced concrete (th century) which bears witness to a race without a hitch. Integrated into the Maginot system of defence of the Alps, it represented a real lock on access to Larche's Col.

The Tournoux fortress is an important work composed of 6 forts ranging from 1,290 m altitude for the Esplanade Pellegrin to 2,000 m for the Serre-de-l'Aut. The Caures battery, which is open to visitors, is located at 1,800 m. Built between 1839 and 1866, these fortifications of the Maginot line are located on the border of the communes of Condamine-Châtelard and Saint-Paul-sur-Ubaye. They defended the entrance to the upper Ubaye valley from the Arche pass. It should be noted that the forest track of about 2 km leading to it is not very passable