The railway station-bridge of the old border of Piène-Basse hamlet is located above RD 6204 road. A false tunnel type of work (bridge) serves as its foundation and allows the superimposition of the railway station and the road in a narrow site between Roya river and the steep side of its right bank.
1) Breil station required an important landscaping in the natural slope of the site for the creation of a vast plateau that could accommodate this international station. It includes marshalling yards, food services, maintenance and turnaround of steam locomotives, freight, workshops, customs, border police and staff quarters. The train station itself is the largest building in the area.
2) Viaducts of Eboulis and Bancao follow the abrupt and irregular slope of the right bank of the Roya river between two tunnels. The shape of their arcades supporting the lines of slightly curved paths, detaches them in the landscape of rocky scrubland.
La Causéga’s pens are on the northern slope of a small plateau between Céva and Mérim valleys.
The village of Fontan develops mainly along RD 6204 road, on the right bank of the Roya river. Tourette district, another historic grouping of houses, is on the left bank.
All mills are located on the river or ravine, the catchment can be several hundred meters distant.
Breil’s mills are located in the village or neaby, fed by Roya river or Lavina river (tributary).
Libre and Piène’s mills are located on the ravine of Ravaï or
Riou’s, or along the Roya river.
1. Water reservoir on the Roya river: the installation was established in a rocky narrow bed of the Roya river, under the village.
2. Water supply between the reservoir and the power station: most of the pipe was dug in the rock, first on the right bank, then on the left bank of the Roya river. It is visible only when crossing the river, a little south of the village, in the form of a reinforced concrete tube, and before entering the plant in the form of the double metal tube of the penstock.
3. Hydropower plant: The plant is built on a narrow site between the Roya river and RD 6204 road, away from other buildings.
Upstream as downstream from the village, the entrances and exits of the spillway tunnels are located at the river level, below the paths leaving the village.
The sections and still visible ancient bridges are located outside the urban area of Breil in a residential agricultural district (Pont de la Lavina) or on arid banks at the bottom of the valley (Ravaï bridge and Libre path).
The hamlet occupies a narrow rocky ridge perpendicular to the Roya surrounded by gardens to the south and steep forest to the north. The church and castle, at the end of the hamlet, are based on a steep cliff on the Roya.
The whole site “village – Casté – Saint-Antoine” is located in a rocky meander, on the left bank of the Roya. The site, historically chosen on defensive criteria, is geographically bounded by the river and two cliffs located on both sides of the rocky ridge. The village developed on the western side of this ridge.
See additional portfolios of notable works in the description sheet.
The road and the gorges’ work are at the bottom of the valley near Roya river, and Ambo road on a steep slope. The commemorative plaques are visible from the road.