The traditional house of Bessans

An architectural unity – by Léon Personnaz

There are two types of documents concerning the traditional dwellings of high-altitude villages in Savoie (above 1600 m): on the one hand, books and scientific or pseudo-scientific articles, and on the other hand, introductory texts from municipalities or associations working to promote local heritage. The first category often leads to geographical, historical, sociological, ethnological or archaeological classifications; they focus on location, altitude, agriculture, and livestock. These factors are used to analyze, explain and justify the different types of peasant houses found at altitude in past centuries. Some studies are devoted to specific villages. The second category of documents—sometimes going beyond a purely touristic approach—can, at best, encourage readers to visit the sites in person. Few associations, however, offer serious insights into these old forms of housing and ways of life. An overview of this literature is provided in the appendix.

After consulting experts and many documents, it appears that the old rural housing of Bessans and Bonneval (note 1) is unique and exceptional in several ways, due to the following features:

1. In Bessans especially, the farms were built on flat land (note 2), with the dwelling-stable (l'érhablô) partially underground;

2. The walls were made entirely of stone and the roofs were covered in lauzes (stone tiles); the framework, floors, doors, and balconies were wooden;

3. Humans and animals cohabited in the same space—at least during the day;

4. The farm was compact: it housed people, animals, hay storage, and food reserves under one roof.

This type of farmhouse remained inhabited until the 1960s, and people who lived there still survive today.

Let us now explore some of the key characteristics described above, all of which are found in the Finette house.

1. It may seem surprising to read "on flat land." Yet Bessans, at 1,750 m altitude, is located on a plateau (note 3) formed from an ancient lake, 8 km long and 1.5 to 2 km wide. This topography distinguishes it from other high-altitude villages (like Saint-Véran, Saint-Sorlin, etc.). A farm built on a slope will often have a ground floor that opens at the lower end and becomes embedded at the back (which helps thermal insulation); hay and grain can also be easily stored from above. In Bessans, however, building on flat terrain, combined with harsh winters, made thermal insulation more challenging. In cold, flat regions like Siberia, semi-buried huts were used centuries ago, but the people of Bessans developed their own solution: placing the stable in a semi-buried room, whose ceiling—made of thick planks—also served as the floor of the hayloft.

2. In less arid or lower-altitude regions, farms were often built of wood on a stone base. Roofs were made of thatch, shingles, or later, metal sheets. Although Bessans has beautiful larch forests, it lacked sufficient wood (note 5) to build wooden walls. Stone was therefore used throughout. The local schist, though rough, could be cut into lauzes. The main drawback was the weight, which required thick walls and strong wooden frameworks (note 6).

3. Winter lasts six months in Bessans, with temperatures dropping to –30°C. Animals stayed in the stable throughout this period. The people of Bessans chose to live with their animals (note 7) to benefit from their body heat (note 8). This cohabitation was continuous in winter. In summer, they moved to summer bedrooms located above the stable.

4. Most Bessans farmhouses were composed of a single building (note 9). All farm functions were integrated, with a shared entrance for humans and animals (note 10). A corridor (lôs us), descending 1.5 meters via broad stone steps (note 11), featured a thermal buffer with three doors. From this corridor, one could access every part of the farm: the dwelling-stable, kitchen, storeroom, cellar, barn, and summer bedrooms. The barn and bedrooms were reached by a staircase, often in stone.

   The floor plan of the dwelling-stable was well defined: a rectangle divided in two. The cow and donkey/mule mangers were placed on a slightly raised platform. Long ago, only a manure gutter (la kroouzo) separated the humans from the cattle (note 12). A table was set beneath the window opening onto the courtyard, with a bench-feeder placed in front of one or more box-beds, under which one or two sheep were penned during the winter. Across from the table, a bench. Some stools, rarely chairs. Often a water pump with a stone basin (bachal), rarely wooden. There was usually no large fireplace—only a stove. The floor was made of wide, thick planks.

   The kitchen, known as the summer kitchen (la fogogné), was almost always located opposite the dwelling-stable, across the corridor. It had a large fireplace and minimal furniture: a dish rack, a large table, and benches. Like the dwelling-stable, it had a window overlooking the courtyard. The kitchen provided access to a cool food storage room (lô péliô), and often to a vaulted cellar (la voouto) on a lower level.

   The barn (lô slèy – from old French solier, upper floor) was located above the semi-buried floor, about one meter above ground level. Hay was loaded through a large two-leaf door; bundles (lé kordès) were rolled in on carts (lô karégn or la kariolo). One of the door's leaves had an upper section that opened independently (useful in deep snow).

   In winter, hay was dropped through a trapdoor into the stable, landing in a hay cupboard (lô bétow)—so there was no need to go outside.

   Most houses had a balcony or gallery (la lodzé), part of which was often enclosed for storing firewood. A loft sometimes sat above the summer rooms, used for storing potatoes, rye, etc. This loft typically opened onto the gallery via a door (note 13).

   A stone staircase often connected the corridor (lôs us) to the upper floor—the barn and summer bedrooms.

   In earlier times, the barn walls were often left unplastered, especially to help with hay ventilation. On some houses, like the now-vanished Tracq house, some walls (especially near the bedrooms) were plastered (note 14).

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Many Bessans houses of this type were destroyed in the fire of August 1944. They were generally replaced by large, concrete structures built during the postwar reconstruction, between 1946 and 1957. Little by little, the remnants of this traditional habitat are disappearing. The Bessans tourist office building, although small, still retains traces of the original dwelling-stable and summer kitchen. The dining room of the restaurant La Lodzé is located in a former barn whose original volume has been preserved. However, the change in use of these houses makes it difficult to get a clear picture of the original living conditions.

The Finette house, due to its size and its preservation in its early 20th-century state, seems to be the last example that can be shown to groups of around a dozen people—something that is not possible in the small house housing the tourist office.

This farmhouse, which already appears on an 18th-century cadastral map, clearly has a history that would be worth exploring. We already know that it underwent several modifications and extensions, but an archaeological study would be most welcome.

The semi-buried level has been fully preserved in its original layout. The furniture has been removed, and novopan partitions have been added, particularly in the dwelling-stable, when the last occupants no longer kept animals. Uninhabited since the 1970s, the farmhouse is now deteriorating. Water leaks reach the fireplace in the dwelling-stable and even one of the bedrooms. To preserve the integrity of the building, a major restoration is needed. In particular, the roof—whose original lauze tiles are now rotten—must be replaced.

Such a restoration would require the use of traditional materials and the involvement of local craftsmen as well as specialized technicians, to avoid compromising the authenticity of the building.

Notes

1. Francis Tracq, La Mémoire du vieux village, La Fontaine de Siloé, 2000.
   Revue de BJA no. 56, Winter 2006–2007.

   Marcel Jail, Haute Maurienne, pays du diable ?, Grenoble, Allier, 1977, 243 p.

   Madeleine Triandafil, Le Bout du monde, six mois dans les neiges de Haute Maurienne, Paris, Éditions du Scorpion, 1962; reprinted by La Fontaine de Siloé, 1991.

   See the appendix to this document.

2. This feature is significant according to Jean-François Lyon-Caen. The same applies to hamlets such as La Goulaz and Le Villaron. In contrast, at L'Avérole—and especially in Les Vincendières—the houses are built on slopes, which leads to different types of architecture.

3. In documents about Haute Maurienne, the area of Bessans–Bonneval is often described as a "high plateau." Lanslevillard, the nearest village downstream from Bessans, lies at 1450 m, i.e., 300 m lower. This explains the differences in construction types and traditional lifestyles between these localities.

4. Ground temperatures remain milder than the air and provide much better insulation against wind than above-ground walls.

5. Eugenie Goldstern noted that the Bessans forest, mainly composed of larch, was "sparse." See Eugenie Goldstern (1884–1942), ethnologue de l'arc alpin, collection Le Monde alpin et rhodanien, Musée Dauphinois, 2007.
   Nevertheless, this wood was traditionally used for barn doors—some of which, centuries old, have resisted weather, snow for five or six months a year, and rot.

6. The roof framework was naturally made of wood. Often, a central column—a large tree trunk—supported the ridge beam from the base of the building.

   Today (as of 2024), the roofs in Bessans are covered with wooden shingles or lauzes, but mostly with thin, machined Italian lauzes, which are lighter and more uniform than the original Bessans slabs… perhaps too geometrically regular.

7. Cows, calves, sheep, ewes, goats, donkeys or mules.

8. Eugenie Goldstern referred to this semi-buried dwelling-stable as Kellergeschoss. Jean-François Lyon-Caen uses the term "buried level," and Jean-Pierre Anderegg "cellar level." However, the inhabitants of such buildings in Bessans do not consider it a cellar; they prefer the term "semi-buried dwelling-stable," since the upper halves of the windows extend above ground level.

9. Haymaking equipment—bundles, rakes, forks, ropes (la souho)—was stored in the barn. However, in medium-sized farms, there was sometimes a separate building (lô bénal), used as a shed for equipment such as the sled (la lièto), the winnowing basket (for rye or barley), and other large tools like the ard (plow), wheelbarrow, or harnesses for lowering large hay bundles from the alpine pastures in winter (lôs arnèrs dé bouissons). Sometimes a small underground sheepfold was included. The sheep would go down via a staircase…

   Summer latrines were located in the courtyard, in a small wooden hut (la kazèto), rarely built of stone.

10. Eugenie Goldstern studied the facades of Bessans houses and catalogued the different types of entrances, including projecting entries for the oldest ones.

11. The steps were generally quite low (< 20 cm) for the comfort of the cows. This is not the case in the house now used as the Bessans tourist office, where the steps are much higher.

12. In 1913, E. Goldstern recorded only three houses with a separation curtain. In the 20th century, wooden partitions (1.5 to 1.7 m high) were installed.

13. In the past, balconies—often without railings—sheltered grébons (lé blèïhiés, bricks of dried sheep dung) and kindling wood. Remains of such balconies can still be seen in the Place de la Croix de la Pise and on an abandoned, nearly ruined house near the Cour des Cimaz, on Rue du Solièt (the Maison de Justinien).

14. See issue no. 81 of the Revue de BJA, pp. 56–57.

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APPENDIX 1 – The Facades of Bessans Farmhouses

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the houses of Bessans were gradually raised ("emerging from the ground"). As previously mentioned, they were generally built on flat terrain. The roof, with two slopes, was made of lauzes (stone slabs) and thus extremely heavy. The pitch was shallow to prevent the lauzes from sliding. The largest slabs were placed near the bottom. The roof extended beyond the walls to shelter the galleries or firewood, as well as the grébons (dried sheep dung bricks) that were stored there. In the oldest houses, these galleries had no railings. From the 19th century onward, wooden railings began to appear, followed later by wrought iron ones, as seen on the Finette house.

Each house had two doors: one for people and animals, and another for accessing the barn. These doors were not necessarily located on the same façade. When they weren't, and the terrain was slightly sloped, the main entrance would typically be on the lower side—allowing for a gently sloping corridor, which was clearly preferable. This entrance usually faced south, as is the case with the Finette house.

• The entrances of the oldest houses were protected from the elements by a large recessed niche, sheltered by a projecting section of the roof. Eugenie Goldstern photographed one dated 1585. One such entrance still exists—now unused—in the Place du Chapil (see photo below). No floor plan survives for this type of house.

• One may assume that in the semi-buried level of older, relatively small houses, the dwelling-stable, the storeroom- possibly preceded by a kitchen - and a staircase leading up to the barn were all accessible from inside the house, via a landing at the base of a small staircase descending just behind the front door. Such a layout would have obviously let in cold air. This major drawback likely led to the development of a projecting structure (lô porkliô), which created a thermal buffer zone without increasing the overall volume of the house
  Eugenie Goldstern, in her descriptions of old house façades, notes the presence of this projection on some façades (measuring approximately 2 m deep × 1.5 m wide × 1.8 m high), with an entrance door leading to the semi-buried level (lô pôrkliô) (see note 15).
  The earliest projections, added after the house was built, were roofed with lauzes.

• As houses increased in height—particularly to expand the volume of the barn—this projection was enhanced with a front wall built above the door, rising all the way to the roof (second-type projections, see photo below). This additional space allowed for the storage of firewood and tools. Moreover, the wall also helped support the heavy roof overhang.

• For houses built in the early 20th century, the projections were designed as part of the original construction. The top of the projection formed an enclosed storeroom extending up to the roof, sometimes featuring a small window (fenestron).

As houses grew larger, the layout of rooms on the semi-buried level evolved. To thermally insulate the dwelling-stable without using a projecting entrance, several solutions were adopted:

• One such solution was to place the dwelling-stable at the far end of the entrance corridor, as in the Finette house (note 16);

• In more recent houses, from the early 20th century, the dwelling-stable and the summer kitchen were positioned on either side of the descending corridor. The doors to these rooms opened beyond two interior doors in the corridor, creating a thermal airlock. The windows of both rooms opened onto the façade. The dwelling-stable could have two windows, for example on either side of the karél (a large raised slab in front of the barn door – note 17);

• If the house was built on a slope—which was rare in the main village (note 18) but common in the hamlets of Les Vincendières and L'Avérole—the structure could take advantage of the topography. The entrance for people and animals was on the lower side, at ground level. The barn entrance was on the upper side, allowing hay to be stored well above the floor level. This eliminated the need for a winch (la téyolo), which was otherwise common in most barns in Bessans.

Notes

1. Goldstern quotes Karl Weule, who notes that the Inuit of Alaska also use this type of extended entrance to shelter a corridor.

2. This layout can still be seen today in the house of Valentin Vincendet, Place de la Croix de la Pise.

3. As in the Vincendet house, where the volume of the dwelling-stable has been preserved.

4. In Valentin Vincendet's house, the descent toward the dwelling-stable is very slight.

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APPENDIX 2 – Selected Excerpts from the BJA Review No. 56

Condition of a house in 1766

On March 5, Jean-Michel Charrier, master carpenter from Bessans; Antoine Parietas and Antoine Rolland, masons from Fontainemore in the Aosta Valley; and François-Marie Quidice, master stonemason from Milan, inspected the house of the heirs of Claude Foudraz, near the Chapil. They described its condition and, should repairs be undertaken, made the following proposals:

"We found that the roof was on the verge of collapse, with nearly all the rafters broken and rotten, and the laths meant to hold the slates were also decayed, the slates themselves being cracked and badly arranged, so that in times of rain water entered freely into the building. The entire roof, therefore, needed to be rebuilt from scratch.
Moreover, the building was not fit to live in, having no chimney or kitchen, since it had previously only served as a barn and stable, what is commonly called a suel. The entrances to both the barn and the lower level were very small, inconvenient, low, and nearly unusable for a habitable building. Part of the southern wall was in very poor condition...
Should repairs be undertaken, we suggest slightly advancing the southern wall to enlarge the space, create new entrances, open two new windows, rebuild the existing ones, and construct a floor for the livestock and mangers in the stable—so as to make the building somewhat livable...
For a total of 260 livres, covering both materials and the labor of the master masons..."

Excerpt from the Customary Law Book of Abbé Bernard – Parish of Bessans (1930s)

"The houses of Bessans sink two to three meters below ground level, with only three to four meters of wall emerging above...
Let us enter one of these houses. First, the front door opens onto a stairwell, the number of steps depending on how deep the basement level lies. At the far end, there is a second door. Push it open, and we find ourselves on a small landing—or sometimes there are still two or three steps to descend. We then enter a dark, short corridor. A third door appears in front of us, flanked by two side doors. These open onto the kitchen on one side, and onto the cellar or pantry on the other. The main center door leads into the stable..."

Clarifications from Louis Personnaz

The Roof (lô tét)

Before placing the lauzes, the roof was insulated manually. Workers stood on logs, using ropes and a makeshift bridge of two beams leaning against the wall.

Roofing always started at the bottom. At the ends of the rafters, a piece of wood known as le bois charlant held the first (and largest) lauzes in place (lé sabrondés), followed by the chapeaux (lô tsapios), and finally the two cover slabs. There were two mounting methods: row by row, or a more elaborate feathered pattern (en plume) with two diagonals.

The lauzes were laid over wooden battens.

The chapeaux continued along the ridge beam (la fré) to finish the roof with a double row of narrower lauzes, on which was placed the "marmot", a heavy capstone—sometimes several—to withstand strong winds. These were also used in the alpine pastures. The roofer would sort the lauzes as he worked. The edges were shaped using hammer, chisels, and mallets directly on the roof.

The Lauzes (lé loouzès)

These are flat stone slabs, extracted as close as possible to the houses, used for roofing in the Maurienne and other Alpine regions. Their thickness ranges from 3 to 9 cm, with the best ones being 3 to 6 cm.

The slabs were quarried in winter, with preparations made in autumn. Buried stones were of better quality.

Holes were drilled into the rock using a metal bit, turned and struck with a sledgehammer.

There were two methods to split the lauzes:

1. Filling the holes with air and plugging them so that the slabs would crack with frost;
2. Manually splitting them using metal wedges, which had to be warmed (kept close to the body) to prevent breaking in the cold.

Later, lauzes were also extracted using blasting techniques.

They were transported down the mountain over packed snow on logs—or willow branches—and then carried by donkeys.

The thickest lauzes were used for flooring in stables, at the entrance, or in front of barn doors.