Le Pays d’Arles | Un Écrin de Culture dans le Sud de la France | Trésors du Patrimoine

Le Pays d’Arles | Un Écrin de Culture dans le Sud de la France | Trésors du Patrimoine

A few kilometers from Arles
and the Rhône Valley, stands a vast space sculpted
by nature: Les Alpilles. These impressive limestone cliffs
dominate the entire plain and the olive groves as far as the Camargue.
This is the country of Arles, the city is famous for its
ancient monuments. It is called the little Rome of the Gauls But under these roofs, the city
shelters a little-known heritage, A treasure hidden at random in the streets
Jean Marc Bernard is responsible for carrying out the inventory of all these riches.
“The richness of Arles’ heritage is such! I have never found a city where there is
so much wealth piled up from all eras… Of all kinds. It is truly
a fascinating city for those who love buildings, and those of extraordinary quality.
* Is this a declaration of love? * Totally! Totally! He is the great love
of my life. Finally one of the loves of my life. » To discover these traces of
the city’s history, Jean Marc climbs onto the terraces of the church of the preachers.
From the roof of this building, the view of the old city is spectacular.
“From here you can see almost the entire heart of the protected sector, that is to say, the old
walled city. It can be taken as a treasure hunt, that is to say that we can try
to analyze what we see here we have a tower from the 5th century, included in
the current building and it is a construction that we see from nowhere and it is truly
thus that we can define the city of Arles, a tangle, an accumulation of buildings
from all periods which end up giving this particular charm to this city. »
This particular charm has been built up over the centuries.
The city was a Roman colony, then the prefecture of Gaul, before becoming
the residence of the first counts of Provence. A story written into the very plan of the city “Here we are on the Place de la République,
it is the largest square in the city of Arles, or at least in the old center,
and which is lined with emblematic monuments. There is a large classical building which
is the 17th century town hall, built during the reign of Louis XIV which includes
a bell tower in the form of a clock which gives it its originality and which dates from the 16th century
and we can also follow on the building, the disappearance of the royal emblems which had been
placed there to the glory of Louis XIV and which after the revolution we tried to make disappear.
For example, we have here two winged figures which obviously did not surround the RF of the
French Republic but the royal coat of arms. There on the first floor the two sphinxes surrounded by the
busts which have disappeared and at the very top of the pediment, the emblem of the royal face, of the
sun king in his radiance, only the rays remain, the face has disappeared. »
Arles also contains little-known testimonies of its history. To preserve them, the city has
undertaken the largest inventory ever carried out. Nearly 5,000 buildings to list!
“We set off to discover some original places in the Arlesian landscape,
there are some all over the city of Arles, all over
here a 15th or 16th century door that we can read in the masonry
and everywhere in this city of Arles we will find similar things. »
Here, Renaissance windows… There, a gargoyle in the shape of a mask….
And further on, an Indian face dating from the discovery of the Americas…
Curiosities are just waiting to be discovered… But there are
testimonies that are much more difficult to find. In this street,
the Carmelite cloister stood in the Middle Ages. Jean Marc Bernard found some of the remains
hidden in the garage of this resident: “And there you see in this sumptuous
warehouse there is still the entire ceiling, with its ribs. These arches formed on the
sides… Which is intact eh. So here we are on the old monastery enclosure with this wall of
extraordinary thickness. And then buildings came to be built against it.
This way, you can find the route of the old cloister by playing a treasure hunt inside the block. »
But the most unexpected surprise is found in this bank branch!
” – Good morning ! * Good morning !
* Please come in.
* THANKS. ” Here, ten years ago, the impressive decorations
of the Carmelite church were found. “Here we are in the Assumption Chapel
and the Scapular Chapel. It is a mortuary chapel which was built by Nicolas des
Albert at the very end of the 16th century in memory of his wife. And then it is sumptuous, a
stone lacework, an extraordinary sculpture. Naturally we now see it to its
advantage. You have to imagine that this was only a short time ago, since the work dates back to
2002. There was an intermediate floor which divided this chapel in terms of height, you
see. So we could n’t escape it at all. Which now allows us
to judge the aesthetics of this splendid vault. »
« We knew that the Carmelite church existed
, yes, there were significant remains of the Carmelite church. But we were
far from imagining that such important remains could remain , and even this polychromy.
It is an original polychromy. This is truly a surprise, and the finesse of the
sculptures was totally unsuspected.” The restoration of this bank branch
lasted two years. And as tradition allows, the stonemason who
renovated these chapels left traces of his passage. He had fun
sculpting Jean Marc’s face himself! Among this profusion of
ancient buildings, the city of Arles is home to a masterpiece of Romanesque art.
A stone’s throw from the Roman amphitheater, the ancient St Trophime cathedral.
Built in the 12th century, it bears the name of the city’s first bishop.
Its portal dates from the end of the 12th century. It is one of the largest
sculpted ensembles of Romanesque art in Provence. Its restoration required seven years of work.
“Another curiosity of this portal is to represent many lions. There are not
many lions in the region and there, all the terrestrial forces, the evil forces
are represented by leonine creatures. In Latin, “ixus leones” means the place where
the danger is, “here are the lions,” and there, it signified to us the influence of the terrestrial forces
in relation to the redemption offered by the gospel.” At the heart of the monument, the
most famous cloister in Provence. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site
, it is one of the most beautiful buildings of its time.
Yet, just two years ago, the monument’s splendor was under threat.
“This cloister, which has been battered over the years, has reached a point of disrepair
and filth that made it difficult to read, so restoration work was
planned, then undertaken and is now underway, including the removal of the
capitals, which reveals some lovely surprises.” But the Romanesque and Gothic galleries of the cloister had
not been restored since the 19th century and the finesse of the statues had disappeared,
damaged by smoke and infiltration. The cloister is now the focus of much
attention: thanks to the help of an American foundation, the restorers have
cutting-edge technology at their disposal: a laser to clean the medieval capitals!
“- Put on your glasses, young man… *Okay right away”
* It’s a light beam that peels off the black crust, but it can also peel off the retina. So
it is imperative to have glasses with special lenses that stop the laser beam. »
« I’m taking off the safety glasses, watch out for the glasses. »
We hear the micro-explosions. There, we peel off the black crust,
we arrive at a yellow layer. » This laser was first used
on the Acropolis of Athens. It allows you to remove impurities without
attacking the sculpture patterns. “During our cleaning we discovered
traces. For example, traces made with drypoint, traces of
preparation for sculptures. There is definitely this intimacy with the people who
made the sculptures. It’s great, that’s for sure. » It takes Agata an average of a week
to clean a single capital… But the restoration of the cloister does not stop
there. Some columns required additional work.
“So where are you at?” * For the control area? »
On this partially cleaned capital, rainwater has deposited a crust of
gray limestone which covers the white marble. “There is the crust, very thick, very
granular with these two layers: Yellow… And gray. And we manage to free ourselves. It is
truly the liberation of sculptures. There we have a sheet that is no
longer readable, and there we manage to find edges. It’s the same for the
detail of the braids of the dress which is still very beautiful, very well sculpted. The drapes
* The marble underneath is healthy, is very very healthy. * We even have the phalanges. »
«The goal is to not touch the marble, to preserve the epidermis of the
marble. And all its readability. And what is remarkable is to find the
sculpture as it was 7 centuries ago. » It will still take a few months for
the restorers to be able to restore the capitals and columns of the cloister
of Saint Trophime to their original appearance. The city of Arles also owes its influence
to the vast territory that surrounds it, a country of great diversity marked
by three unique natural spaces: the Alpilles, the Crau region
and the marshes of Baux de Provence. In the Middle Ages, this territory was dominated by
the castle of Baux de Provence. one of the most impressive fortresses in France:
Today, this village is one of the emblematic sites of the region. The castle, built between the 11th and
13th centuries, overlooks the entire plain. Throughout history, it has
suffered a large number of sieges. And its builders had to find
solutions to fight against the aggressors. On the mountainside, at the foot of the fortress,
they dug a secret passage. Today, Cyril Dumas, the curator, is
one of the few people who can borrow it. “Here we are in front of the
secondary gate of the castle. It is important to know that in every castle there is very often a legend that
evokes the story of a secret passage. In Les Baux, we have this opportunity, it is real, it exists.
This passage is of course reserved for the owner of the place, who went directly
inside the castle by crossing the mountain, through this very
large tunnel. Which also allowed the passage of man and his mount. ”
This underground staircase was a tempting passage for potential invaders.
But attackers who risked it found themselves caught in a real trap.
“If a person manages to elude the attention of the gatekeepers and does not present
the correct invitation, he risks suffering from stones or other weapons of defense. ”
The passage actually leads to this deep pit. The invaders are then at the mercy
of the soldiers hidden in these lookout posts. The powerful fortress
was however besieged many times During these periods of insecurity, the peasants
often had to take refuge in the many natural shelters, all around the rock of Baux
” – Well when you want * Thierry it’s good ”
With two mountaineering friends, Cyril Dumas undertook to explore these
ancient caches, scattered in the Alpilles. “This type of outing simply allows me
to make an inventory of all the traces and occupations
that have taken place on the rock. This passion probably comes from childhood
, I have a particularity, my grandparents are from Baux
de Provence, so I was able to return to my native land, that’s what ultimately motivates me
and excites my curiosity” Cyril has already visited around thirty
shelters, some occupied since prehistory. The most impressive are
found on the rock of Les Baux itself. This one is one of the largest,
opening 15 meters above the void. In the Middle Ages, it was accessed using ladders.
“This is where I wanted to take you, we are in a typical perched habitat with
multiple traces of occupation. Here we have a wedging groove, probably for a wall
. There are bolt holes to accommodate beams or a roof.
Life here must have been very basic. First of all, you should know that all the activities
were outside. We can imagine activities related to livestock or agriculture,
or stone cutting. And in the evening the family would return to take shelter in this rock shelter with
Here an area that has been leveled, therefore a resting area and there an area that resembles a cistern,
a storage place for food. ” In the 17th century, Richelieu put an end to the power
of the lords of Baux who flouted royal power. He had the ramparts torn down and
the most imposing buildings dismantled. Facing Les Baux de Provence, this rocky landscape
hides one of the region’s riches, … These immense quarries dug
under the hill in the 19th century. Among the most impressive,
the Sarragan quarry. A true stone cathedral,
the last one still in use. Pascal Bourgier is the current
owner of this exceptional site. For over 40 years, he has been exploiting this
masterpiece carved by generations of craftsmen. A know-how inherited from his father. Each block is cut with a saw,
but to judge its quality, it is first a question of hearing:
“If the sound is clear, the rock is good. And if it doesn’t ring, then there
‘s definitely a problem. ” It is also by making the stone
of the walls and ceilings ring that the quarrymen progress into the heart of the mountain.
By ear, they hunt for what they fear most: the flaw that
could threaten the entire structure. “In fact, it’s the stone that takes you
to places… The quarryman himself has to think carefully about
the exploitation of the galleries. But nature is still there and we must respect it.
And well, we’ll go according to all the cracks in the ceiling. So there
is obviously a sensitivity in the place. ” Following the stone path, men
went deep into the massif, sometimes digging imposing galleries.
“This one we call the long one. Because it took a long time to make. And then because it
has a completely exceptional length. It must be 37
meters, almost forty meters. It’s a very endearing place
. Anyway, I’m here, I’m practically one of the pillars.
Support this career. I can’t get rid of this place, I’m in love with it. »
A few kilometers from Pascal’s quarry, here are the valleys of the Alpilles
A wild space of scrubland and pines. Here, the essences and scents of Provence
delight bees and beekeepers! This morning, Sophie Berton is welcoming a group
of hobbyists who want to set up their own hive at home.
“It’s not a trumpet, it’s an accordion.”
For Sophie, the first concern is to raise bees to help the
survival of this increasingly threatened species. “Look, it’s very beautiful, there’s honey,
it shines, that’s today’s honey, nectar, it makes mosaics.
What I am learning most is how to breed and preserve the
colony. This is important. Hence the interest in understanding that the bee preserves
itself. If they make us honey, so much the better, it’s a gift. »
In this initiation, knowledge of the natural environment is
essential. With Sophie’s help, apprentice beekeepers learn to recognize the
plants important for the survival of bees. “They have a blast with that in August!”
And yet it doesn’t look like much, it saves us. If you have beehives in the Alpilles and
it’s the dry season, that saves us . We make honey flows with this. It makes
a very dark honey that looks a bit like fennel honey. It tastes like nuts”
“- Why do we say that we can only have acacia honey, only chestnut honey
when there are plenty of plants around where the bees can go.
* Sophie: When a bee is really going to pollinate a flower, it goes all the way to the
end of that flowering. And I see here there is rosemary and thyme that can flower at the same
time. They will not let go of rosemary even if it is at the end of flowering
compared to thyme, they prefer rosemary” Driven by her passion, Sophie wanted
to reconnect with an ancient tradition. A know-how gradually abandoned in the 20th
century, with the invention of modern beehives. “- B You take a small piece of rattan”
* And do we wet the rattan too? * Oh yes, always
so that he works better” It is thanks to the talent of Béatrice, a
basket-weaver friend, that she can, today, revive this unusual activity.
“We are trying to do the same thing as this, (she shows the hive) that is
to say a traditional straw hive. It is really a hive that is extremely
old, which already existed in the 15th 13th century. Depending on the region, it may be
rye straw. In Camargue, we’re going to try to make some rice, because there it is. » « –
You have to be constantly under tension. Always be… both the cord and the link.
*It takes strength, eh… don’t worry about finger cramps
* How long will it take us to achieve this result?
* It took me a good afternoon to do this . Let’s say 4 hours. A good 4
hours to do this, to start. » A long job that had to be
started again and again since, at the time, the straw hive was destroyed at each harvest.
But for Sophie, this method could be a solution to attract
new bee colonies. “This is the ideal tool for
the most natural preservation possible. It is a natural material. The swarm has a balloon shape,
which is exactly the initial shape of a straw hive. So all these elements mean
that it is no coincidence that the bee has been on earth for 3 million years and that
today it is dying. It is because there is this approach to man and bee that no
longer exists. It may be a utopian tool on my part, but I want to try it anyway. »
« – I’m going to crack * But no, you’re not going to crack »
Sophie’s project is ambitious. She wants to recreate a traditional Provençal apiary.
“- Shall we install it there? *Yeah, the little path on the right there »
About fifty beehives arranged in a dry stone wall
After a week of work, the first hive is finished.
” – Here we go, we’re going to get it done there, as they say in Provence. So. What do you think about it?
* It’s not bad, it’s set. » « – How does a hive like that work then?
* It makes you laugh. So, yes. How it works. Well, first you have to go and
find a swarm of bees, hanging from a branch for example. The advantage
is, you turn your basket over, there’s a swarm hanging on a branch, you shake the
branch. Perfect, it fits in. All right. And then the bees will come in and go out,
and they will start to build wax and make honey, but also to
raise their young larvae. ” In a few months, dozens of swarms
will set out to conquer this new paradise. In the Middle Ages, a vast area extended here.
Vineyards, olive trees, flocks of sheep raised by peasants who had to pay
a tax to the priory of St Peyre d’Entremonts. Located on the salt road, this
fortified building, now undergoing restoration, offered shelter to travelers.
Sophie found this ruin under the brambles 10 years ago.
Every summer, all the members of his association take over the work.
Among the most loyal volunteers is Simon, Sophie’s son.
At 29, Simon is a stonemason. After working on
Strasbourg Cathedral and the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, he returned to settle in the region.
“In fact, the façade is opening up. So we are seeing,
because previously there was a rampart to support this part which is opening up. »
For Simon, the ruins of the priory evoke above all childhood memories.
“I started when I was a kid, my brother and I had a lot of fun in the
scrubland, in the hills and we often came here to climb the stones. I don’t know if
this building was an impetus for me for this profession, but it has always been a place where I felt good
and one day I came with some friends and we thought about whether we could
renovate it. We said why not? “Nickel”
The priory was abandoned in the 14th century. At that time, a cold wave
hit the region and ruined the crops. Poverty sets in and the priory is abandoned.
But today, this story is emerging from oblivion thanks to the work of Sophie’s association.
A few kilometers from the priory, at the foot of Les Baux de Provence,
a highly anticipated event is held every autumn: the stone festival. A large gathering organized by Simon
“I can give you a little advice if you want to get in better shape,
you have a bit of fat here so you could do a little sildure”
A weekend during which stonemasons challenge each other.
Among the competitors, there are experienced professionals but also young apprentices.
Hanaé is 16 years old and is taking vocational training at a local high school.
“It’s quite special how I discovered stone cutting. A Saturday morning with my mother.
I asked him to visit the high school. And more specifically in fact the stone cutting workshop
because it intrigued me. And as soon as I walked into the studio I
said to myself, “Yeah! That’s what I want to do.” “To be a stonemason, you have to have passion, a
passion for your work, be patient, meticulous, and focused too. Work the material as
it is noble. It’s something beautiful. » « The material is what I like, it’s the stone,
the hardness. Matter itself. Then there’s the gesture, the fact that it lets off steam too. You need to
let off steam, you’re nervous, you grab a knife, you’re going to hit something, it feels good.
What I also like is coming home in the evening after a day of workshops. Dead
is excellent. We sleep like a baby. We sleep like a baby…
I love it. » With this celebration, Simon wants to show
that stone cutting is also a modern profession that must evolve with the times.
“A stonemason is very traditionalist but he now realizes that
doing only restoration… the basis of our profession is being a builder, it is constructing
and here we are only preserving what already exists. There is an awareness, even if at the
beginning we think of stonemasonry, we are idealistic and we imagine the stonemason
at the bottom of cathedrals but with time, we realize that we are not only made for
restoration, we want to create and evolve. » A few hours later, the high school students have made
good progress. David and Brian chose to make a lectern. Brian takes care of the
column while David cuts the board. But, for the two apprentices, the objective
is ambitious and time is running out. “We are trying to catch up, to put in some
moldings that we hadn’t planned at the start, as we still have a little time. So
we try to do it as quickly as possible with the last hour we have left. » « – Do
you think you have a chance of winning? * We can always hope! »
Final cuts of the scissors before the jury deliberates.
Compliance with measurements, symmetry of the parts, everything is checked…
For high school students, seconds pass like minutes.
For the best, it’s almost time for consecration
“So the first ones on the desks are Brian and David who won”
“Caillou!!!!!! » Return to the city of Arles.
For ten years, archaeologists have been unearthing remains from the Rhône that reveal the importance
of the city’s port in the time of Caesar. But in August 2011, an
incredible rescue was in the making. A team was preparing to raise
the wreck of a Roman boat! The means are unprecedented: A barge
was installed directly above the wreck, and above all, for the first time in France,
professional divers came to support the archaeologists.
“- Shall we agree on the crank and the feet and start lifting?”
* Going back to this moment the feet… » At their head, Benoit Poinard directs the operations.
“Did you tighten the cables?” * The cables are
spread out. You can go there” “For divers, our
daily life is dams, bridge piers,
oil platforms, these are worlds much less poetic and romantic than
lifting a wreck that is two thousand years old. * Can you send the gas, 150 bars? »
The divers’ helmets allow them to communicate with the surface and
transmit images of the bottom during the dive. “- OK here we go
* ok here we go” This wreck in excellent condition is the
oldest and one of the longest ancient barges ever found.
“Hey John?” * Yes ?
* So what does it give?
* Ok I’ll check if it’s good, if it’s not finished I’ll continue to finish it
* Benoit: Ok » Sabrina Marlier is the archaeologist who
leads the scientific operations. ” – The view is good
* Yes it’s good yes it’s perfect. I’m starting to see her. » A
specialist in ancient wrecks, she has been studying this barge for four years.
“It is a boat called a barge, from the Gallo-Roman period which is dated
quite precisely to the beginning of the 50s AD, and a barge
means that it is a flat-bottomed boat intended exclusively for navigation in a
river environment, we can consider that it is the equivalent of our current barges”
Underwater surveys have allowed archaeologists to draw this
very well-preserved boat. “It’s a big boat, a very, very big
boat, since the wreck is almost 31 meters long, with a width of about 3 meters,
so a very narrow but very, very long boat. It was a boat that was able to sail
between Lyon and the sea, along the entire Rhône. We know that it was part of a
local economy, since at the time of its sinking, it was transporting a load of stones
from the quarries of Saint Gabriel, a town quite close to Arles. »
According to initial hypotheses, the shipwreck occurred during a storm which
caused the Rhône to flood. Water then rushed into the boat. Unbalanced, the
boat was dragged to the bottom, taking with it its cargo and all its equipment on board!
Today the crew’s dishes, the rudder and the mast are still
in place, making this wreck unique. For months, archaeologists
asked themselves one question: How do you get such a large and heavy wreck out of the water
? Benoit’s team came up with a
totally unexpected solution: Cutting the boat into sections, using a simple saw!
Today, the divers are testing their idea for the first time
“- Ok listen, I’ve started cutting, I’m about
a third of the way through, and it’s cutting well, so far I have
n’t come across any scrap metal * OK, received
* the cut is finished, you can
start the lifting operation * OK”
On the pontoon, the rest of the team gets into action.
Centimeter by centimeter, she pulls the section of wreckage back up to the surface.
“It’s starting to take off, it’s moving away a little” After months of preparation,
Sabrina has a front row seat “There’s the baby”
“- it’s funny to see the boat once cut like that
* Yes it’s good, you have the best view right now
* affirmative, when you know that it was made two thousand years ago…”
Once again, the Gallo-Roman barge finds the light of day. Sabrina has been
imagining this moment for four years. “It’s extremely moving and it’s not so much
because the boat is old, but mainly because we’ve been working on it for years
and studying it piece by piece. Underwater, you have to imagine that we see
the boat every time, we see pieces of 20 cm underwater and then we have an overall view,
it’s incredible, it’s really incredible. ” The release of this first section is the beginning of an
incredible bet: to reassemble the entire boat in just a few months….
” – The rigging is great * yes they did something,
they really worked well. » For Claude Sintès, the director of the museum that will
exhibit this boat, this rescue is an event “You can see this boat now,
we have the ropes they pulled on, we have the mallets they used to hit the
planking, so all of that is an extraordinary slice of life that we are absolutely not used to
seeing, and so I admit that this is out of the ordinary, and that is fantastic for us. »
Immediately after arriving under the hangar, the boat is installed under misters.
Because, for him, the change of environment is particularly violent.
After 2000 years spent underwater, the wood must not dry out.
“What happens is that the wood is waterlogged, that is to say that all the fibers
inside instead of having cellulose contain water. So what happens is that
if you take the wood out and let it dry, the water will evaporate and all
the structures will collapse, you will have completely exploded wood, that’s
why you have to constantly put it in water or spray it all day long. »
Right next door, another team is taking care of all the Roman objects taken out of the water.
Faced with the impressive quantity of pottery, a solution had to be found:
“- are they all different then? » A laboratory headed by David Djaoui
was installed directly on the quay. “- You have venules, streaks, here
you have sheets of water with pearls, do you see the finesse of this one?
*It’s incredible, you’re reconstructing the crates as they were
in antiquity. You just have to put in some straw and you have an antique crate.
*Yes, absolutely.” David has another surprise in store for Claude. It has
just been brought to the surface and will become one of the key objects of the excavation.
” – Oh la la! Oh yes ! * Then you have all the other pieces
that are inside. And here you really have the libation vase
* It’s an extraordinary piece * It’s absolutely sublime what »
Libation vases were used during rituals during which the
Romans paid homage to their gods. “When we saw it come out of the water, we were all
a little stunned by the quality, the necklace, and it’s the first time I’ve seen
a libation vase of this quality. There we find the pleasure of being a
child and wanting to be an archaeologist, finding beautiful objects. »
A few days later. The section that has just been removed is dismantled,
piece by piece. Because each piece of wood, each metal element will undergo
a very particular restoration “It seems quite simple, what you need to know is
that this wood which is oak is now more like a lump of butter which
comes out of the refrigerator or even which has been out of the refrigerator for a while, it no longer has any
resistance, It is extremely fragile waterlogged wood , so the nail was driven into
this wood two thousand years ago and so you have to be very careful when you remove it. ”
One by one, the 235 pieces that make up the barge will leave Arles to live out
the rest of their adventure in Grenoble…. We are on the site of the
Atomic Energy Commission. “- They are already at work
* Hello” This is where the
restoration of the boat parts begins “- Is it okay? *
So. What part is that? * So these are the sleepers, they were
located in the central part of the boat. *Okay, very good
* They’re beautiful, aren’t they? * Yes, they are magnificent.
For the first planks of the barge, the treatment began a
few weeks ago in these basins. It consists of replacing the water contained in
the wood fibers with a type of resin. A technique developed in the early 1980s
“There was a lot of research in the 20th century to save wood, there were lots of
materials that were studied, there was sugar, other things that were tested and
polyethylene glycol, this particular resin, became a widespread treatment throughout the world. »
« All the little yellow labels that you see are what will allow us to
reassemble the architectural pieces together, so by looking in the pool,
thanks to these yellow labels, I know where we are in the boat, which piece
it is, and there you have it, and with all the pieces that we see here, it gives an idea
of ​​the giant puzzle that we will have to put together. “There you go, gulp gulp.”
While the slow work of restoration begins here , the recovery of the wreck continues
300 kilometers away. On the banks of the Rhône, the dives follow one after the other.
In 4 weeks, everything must be finished. The sections of the wreck are being brought up
one after the other. But, at the end of August,
storms threaten to slow down work. “- Ok received”
(on water plan) If the storm sets in and the waters
rise, the construction site risks being delayed. “The problem is that there is a lot of wind
with gusts and we are not sure we will be able to lift the cradle to land.
So we are a bit between getting up and a risk of gusts and leaving in
the water with the storms that are coming. the wind is clearing, it’s falling, it’s falling! »
Finally, the storm passes and work resumes.
After three months of relentless effort, the exhausted archaeologists are regaining hope.
“Now I’m starting to tell myself that we’re going to get there, that it’s almost won, I’m starting to fantasize,
imagining my children, grandchildren, grandchildren coming to the museum to see
the boat and then we start to dream.” A month later.
The weather finally allowed the ascent of the first 9 sections, the
time for the final lifting has finally arrived. “Ayayaille
We will remember this moment for a few years. ”
Seven years ago the wreck was discovered, today its bow reappears.
“Is this the end of your worries or the beginning of regrets?”
* I don’t know, but it’s super moving, it’s incredible to have gotten this far, incredible. ”
For the first time in the world, a complete Gallo-Roman barge has been
brought to the surface. “Ah, it’s over, huh?” »
(The boat entered the hangar) The end of the refloating of the wreck marks
the beginning of a new adventure. We will find the whole team facing
the incredible puzzle of reassembling the boat. At the time when the barge sailed on the
Rhône, the city was in full expansion. Among the remarkable works, the Romans
built this aqueduct which captured water from the Alpilles to transport it
to the gates of the city. Today, these remains hidden under the trees
are the object of very special attention. Every spring, an association of
hikers undertakes a patient task: clearing the ancient stone walls.
Little by little, the work reappears under the gaze of a self-taught archaeologist, Otello Badan.
“This stone is from a quarry 8 kilometers from here. They would
bring it in by the cartload, and they would actually butcher it on site
– Hiker: I wonder how many people there would have been on a construction site like that?
– 5 or 6000 people There is the one who removed the vegetation, the one who dug the
earth, the one who dug the rock, the surveyors who leveled the
ground, everything has to be calculated, that’s it” This work was built in the 1st
century by Roman engineers. At the time, the construction of this
aqueduct was a real feat. The pipeline was to carry
water over 40 kilometers. To adapt to the curves of the terrain and cross
the valleys, the water passed over these engineering structures. Facing the hills, it disappeared
into tunnels dug into the stone. Otello contributed to the discovery
of several sites in the region. He knows how to read in the rock, the
clues which, as here, betray the presence of the aqueduct under the scrubland.
“We can see the vault of the work there. I ‘ll go through there. It’s not obvious.
You see the tool marks on the rock. There were two or three guys
digging there. Workers. And then, a little further on, there were
others who were moving towards them. And we see the spades. There were
two teams. Thanks to these traces we can see where the worker was, which way they were going.
They followed the contour lines. Even in valleys like this.
They didn’t make a bridge, they made it like a real snake. ”
In the plain the aqueduct was invisible. At the request of a historian, Otello
managed to find the outline of the work by observing the stones!
“You have to look at everything, the color of the earth, the vegetation,
you have to get down on your hands and knees, because there are some clues and some
small concretions that remain on the surface from the cleaning that the Romans did. ”
It was by finding these stones from the maintenance work on the aqueduct
that Otello discovered an access chimney. In this vast field, he had
a hole opened and to everyone’s surprise, he fell directly onto this well.
“I removed the earth and when we really arrive in the gallery. It takes your breath away to
see this work. It looks like it was done 2 months ago. It’s 2000 years old, it looks like new. ”
And here again, the slightest traces of tools become evidence.
“There must have been Roman inhabitants not far away and they came to
help themselves, they came to get water. In principle, it is forbidden to go and get
water from an aqueduct. And here we see the wear and tear of the ropes when they went to
take on water, for centuries. It’s extraordinary, I’ve never seen anything like it. »
Otello’s discoveries made it possible to clarify the underground route of the aqueduct.
Scientists are currently working on another part of the tunnel, about ten
kilometers upstream in the heart of the Alpilles. It was a few steps from this chapel
that they discovered another entrance. At the foot of this tower, an impressive
part of the aqueduct is under study. Today, two archaeologists are exploring
this conduit to help the work of historians. – Do you have any idea of ​​the depth?
* That’s about 16 meters. Should I go there? » The two men visit the southern part of the
underground canal under the eyes of Otello and Philippe Leveau, a specialist in the Roman world.
“I’ll see if the passage underneath is possible, but it’s blocked there.
*: There is a block that fell from above elsewhere. And which hinders access.
* It’s still going well, we can stand up.
* It is still a fairly monumental work since we have a well that is almost 4 square meters
on the ground, about fifteen meters deep, that is still 60
cubic meters of rock. It’s not nothing. » Once past the narrow channel, Thierry and Martin
arrive in the canal itself. A construction that will inform them about the
technical mastery of Roman engineers “- Who is taking the measurements?
* I’m going to take notes. 5 03
70 direction…. 0 slope.
*All right, next station. » Thanks to their instruments, Martin and Thierry
measure the actual slope of the conduit over several hundred meters. For these two specialists,
the rectilinear nature of the structure and its very slight slope are impressive.
“60!” From a technical point of view, it is a feat
because it brings water from the Moulegesse marshes, which are at an altitude of 48 metres, to Arles,
at an altitude of around 8 metres. That is to say 40 meters of difference in altitude over a distance of 40
kilometers. We must still appreciate the quality of the work of the engineers of the time.
To be able to make this thread of water run over such a distance is quite spectacular. ”
After several hours of observation, the archaeologists will have the privilege
of making a moving discovery. “We can move around, so I’m going.”
Above the vault, a small space shelters a testimony to the passage of Roman workers.
“ These are niches that are 5/6 centimeters
wide and as high. These niches are simply used to place lamps during digging,
simply to provide light. They are placed according to lighting needs without any
real fixed regularity. Given the size, we can use what I would say are the classic Roman oil lamps,
as we know them, with some traces of charcoal still running around. ”
Thanks to this research, the route of the aqueduct is now known from
the Alpilles to the town of Arles. Some of the cliffs in this massif
reach an altitude of almost 500 metres. At the foot of these mountains, the cultivation of
olive trees creates wonderful mosaics. For thousands of years, it has been
the mythical tree of Provence. In the Alpilles, he found a unique terroir,
and its fruits supply the markets of the region. In St Rémy de Provence,
the olive is the star of the stalls. “- Madam, what would you like?
A little Provençal mix? * Not like this anymore »
But the real star product is olive oil.
An oil that we taste, …. “- It’s the variety of olives that
actually gives this raw artichoke taste at the end of the mouth
* ah yes” And we even taste it,
“- You will have a green fruity flavor * Thank you very much
* thank you have a great day. Enjoy your stay with us »
Tasting olive oil, judging its flavor and subtlety, it’s a profession.
” – So what about the smell? » Françoise Pouget is an
olive oil expert. She is recognized for her work worldwide.
“- It’s quite elegant, it has a nice sweetness, it’s not too bitter and
it just has a little scratch in the throat that we call ardor.
Is that it? * That’s it!
* I wasn’t wrong, you gave me a good rating?
* Shopkeeper: Absolutely, 10 out of 10 * okay then
* Exactly that » In the aisles of the market, Françoise
Pouget continues her tastings. An art she learned in Spain. This is
why his profession has a surprising name with Iberian accents. She’s Catador!
“So Catador is neither a swear word nor a disease nor an olive oil killer.
Catador is a virgin olive oil taster . We could make it more specific, to make it
clearer, as being an olive oil oenologist. »
Today, Françoise is looking for a rare product.
While usual oils are extracted from green olives, this one pursues the black fruitiness.
A Provençal specialty made from black olives. “- There we are on something completely different
* Yes, it’s really the black olives, the tapenade, the aromas…
* There is absolutely no bitterness, there is absolutely no heat. Highly evolved aromas.
* A huge amount of aromas, it fills your mouth, it has nothing to do with green fruit. »
Long forgotten, black fruit is making a real comeback, thanks to
the enthusiasm of ambassadors like Françoise. “When you enter a mill, you have a
smell of black fruit that is being made, it is between Guerlain and almost orgasmic, it
takes hold of you, it is of the order of the senses, of the sensual, of something that escapes you
and which touches you at the same time” In the Alpilles, very few farmers
still know how to produce this oil. Only a few enthusiasts have decided
to revive this ancestral activity. In this garden of paradise, Olivier Penel
has planted several varieties of olive trees. It ‘s spring,
the trees are in bloom. The harvest looks good,
but there is a threat: Flies lay their eggs on the flowers and
compromise the quality of the fruit…. “Right now we are using
clay to keep the flies away, so we just cover them lightly with white clay.
As there is a flight of flies at the moment, and they have big globular eyes with lots of
little facets. They spot an olive tree by its color. We change the color slightly,
it is lost, it goes next to it and it is won. Next step will be harvesting. »
To produce his oil, Olivier was inspired by his grandfather’s know-how
. He rediscovered this art which had almost disappeared:
“I tried to return to simple gestures. On the tastes of yesteryear. I reviewed everything
that happened during my childhood. And I remembered all the smells and all the gestures.
And, they did it like that, I’m sure of it. They did it like that. Because when you put your
hands in a pile of olives. When it’s good, if you know how to do it well. It smells of
blond tobacco. It’s even more than black olive, it’s starting to be a little cocoa-y, truffle-y. It’s
worth it, and you don’t get your hands dirty! ” In the olive grove, the seasons pass.
Each contributes to the slow maturation of the olives.
Summer warms the trees… With autumn, the fruits
turn from yellow to green. It ‘s December, the olives are
finally ripe…ready to be picked. Here, harvesting is done in the
traditional way: “You have to choose the right side to attack. Not
just any angle of attack. Because if we do it like this, for example. You can break a
branch. There’s a sense of hitting. It’s natural. We don’t need machines for
things like that, so we always pick up things like that. That works. Be
careful, especially your eyes. Ouch! »
Thanks to this technique, the pickers gather nearly three tons of olives per day.
– Isn’t it a relaxing job? * Yes, it’s not rest”
It’s 9 a.m., the men join forces to
pull the first harvest of the day. A harvest in the middle of winter which will guarantee
the quality of the oil because the intense cold concentrates the flavors in the heart of the fruit.
“It’s around zero there and with a mistral wind at 100 km/h it’s quite cold, you have to resist,
it makes a good oil, that’s the main thing.” On his estate, Olivier obtains as many
flavors as he has varieties of olives. “Some varieties bring
a little more acidity. Others are softer. Others, more
creaminess. It’s like all products, whether it’s wine or oil. By
putting several varieties, the tastes of each complement each other. To
have much more aromatic development and structure in the mouth »
For the pressing of his oil, Olivier works with Sophie Denis. It is in his
mill that the olives will be processed. Sophie comes to assess the year’s harvest.
“We have beautiful fruit, very, very beautiful fruit this year, of good size and above all
very healthy! They are really black. We often get the question from the public: are
there varieties of olives, a green olive? Most people think it’s two
different varieties as to maturity. It’s true that this is a question we are
often asked. In fact, all olives start out green and as they ripen, they transform and
become dark, not necessarily black . It’s more dark purples,
dark browns. Colors of a sackcloth robe. If you look closely, it’s never black. You
see this one they are rather purplish. It’s not black, a bit red even.”
For Olivier and his team, the harvest will last another week. The fruits will then take the
path to Sophie’s mill. It is here, in this 17th century mill,
that the famous black fruit will be born… But before pressing, the olives must undergo a final stage.
They are stored in these attics for several days, to give rise to an
essential natural phenomenon: fermentation. “You fill it in for me
for tomorrow now. ” ” The fact of having an accumulation of fruit,
the attic being between 10 and 20 tons, we have a natural heating of the fruit which takes
place. So in the past we measured this empirically by putting our hands in the pile.
Today we use a probe to be able to really monitor the temperature rise.
And that. Develops the aromas of olive oil. And that’s actually
the secret to dark fruitiness. » Then it’s time for grinding.
Only a few mills like this one still use stone millstones.
This slow traditional kneading is followed by pressing… the last step before discovering
this thin golden trickle, the olive oil from the Alpilles. For Olivier, this year
again, the magic worked. “You have to try this one.
It’s my oil, it’s oil and when you find it there it’s great!
Some people make omelets, but I plant olive trees, I pick
olives and I make oil, it’s magnificent! » An
exceptional product, black fruit has stood the test of time. It reconnects
with the flavors of Mediterranean oils. The Alpilles are also the kingdom of orchards.
It is here in these greenhouses that a summer fruit is grown : Cantalou de Provence…
An old variety of melon produced for a long time by Lina and Jeannot
“- Oh, we have the whole team today? ” If they continue to preserve this species, it is
for Pierre Lillamand, one of the best confectioners in the region…
” – Hello, are there still any? * We didn’t quite
finish picking this morning * I see there are quite a few there”
Every week during the season, Pierre comes to pick up the most beautiful melons from Lina and Jeannot.
Since 1866, his family has been passionately making candied fruit. His specialty: this
famous melon which has deserted our shelves. “This one is superb, these are varieties
that do not keep, once picked you have to work them or consume them,
that’s why they were abandoned. On the other hand, to make candied fruits to
find the taste of the fruit, in the candied fruit, it is absolutely necessary to work with these varieties.
There are still crazy people who want to play the crazy ones with us to achieve
a taste result which is incomparable. * He said crazy…..
* crazy in joy and good humor * we finish the picking and then
I’ll give you a hand * ok »
To preserve this variety of melon, Lina and Jeannot
keep the seeds from one year to the next. Heading for Saint Rémy de Provence,
a few kilometers away… “- I did some yesterday”
In the company courtyard, in the shade of a large plane tree, the women take
over. Because before being candied, the cantalou from Provence must be stripped of its skin.
A ritual that is passed down from generation to generation.
“My grandparents, great-grandparents did it this way, my aunt taught me
and my brother how to peel melons, it’s the trademark in fact, we always saw them doing it”
“- Odette: I fell into it when I was little, it was my father who taught me how to
do it, and I always enjoyed it, I was passed on this love of
fruit, of work and that’s it, It’s not a job for me, it’s fun. * It’s the fastest
* and yes, I do about ten an hour * In fact you have to see the blade,
* you have to remove only small peels, it’s very very fine
* In fact we find ourselves at the end, for me, of ten minutes a quarter of an hour, with
the shape of the melon like that, bare, you wouldn’t say that it had been peeled in fact.
We sculpt, we make art, we will say in our own way.”
All day long, the women repeat the same gestures, fixing their attention on the
blade of the knife and on the thickness of the peel. Preparing these melons together also means
nourishing the bonds that unite these women, all generations combined…
“- For me it’s a moment of relaxation, we’re good, we chat
* There’s a really good atmosphere, * yes it’s true,
* Everyone talks about their family life, their cooking recipes, sometimes we’re in
very deep thoughts, in our world, sometimes we don’t talk we’re there we peel,
sometimes we cry, sometimes we crack, sometimes we laugh out loud , we share our life,
eh Martine? It’s a women’s story, yes it’s a women’s story! »
Once the melons are peeled, the segments are heated in
this juice and pricked one by one so that the syrup penetrates to the heart of the fruit.
“After preparing it, peeling it, we will soften it in water, and this
step is essential because if it is too soft the fruit will turn into jam and
if it is not softened enough, it will shrivel later in the manufacturing stages.
And there is all the art of the confectioner who will prick who will look, who will touch”
1. “There is no real learning, it is experience”
The next step is crucial. The melon is cooked in syrup.
Little by little, this mixture of water and sugar replaces the natural water of the fruit.
The operation is repeated 7 or 8 times for three or four weeks. This is the confectionery.
A gourmet alchemy that gently transforms the fruit and exudes intense aromas…
“It gives off an exceptional aroma, in fact when you pass the different broths, you can
even smell it in the courtyard, it smells a bit like summer” “- We are getting to the end
* It looks well cooked” “The idea of ​​a good candied fruit is to be able to
preserve the taste of the fruit, its grain, for example a pear, we find the grain of the pear
like a fruit that has just been picked in fact, it is really the artisanal method is really
the only method that allows all these elements there” Here, all the fruits are touched
by the magic of candied fruit. Knowledge that has been developed over the centuries.
The Romans dipped fruit in honey, but it was in the Middle Ages that Nostradamus,
the famous astrologer, found the ideal recipe. He wrote “fardements et confitures” which remains,
even today, the recipe for candied fruit shared by the best artisans.
Before delighting fans, the confectionery team must create
a final bath, an icing, which will dress each fruit in a fine sugar coat.
“The icing is the last operation that we do, to prevent the fruit from sticking
to the fingers when tasting. If the icing is done well, the fruit
will remain shiny, but not sticky.” Enhanced by this long transformation,
melons, pears, strawberries, figs, oranges and mandarins retain their
place in the Provençal heritage… Just a few kilometers
to the south, a change of scenery. La Crau is a
completely unknown pebble plain. This vast expanse is
the former delta of the Durance. Today it is also one
of the only steppes in Europe! A desert land but one which
men have known how to take advantage of. Once irrigated, this territory
gives birth to a treasure. A unique resource that is
exported all over the world: Crau hay. A multitude
of plants and flowers which gives these meadows their exceptional quality and
has even allowed this fodder to receive a controlled designation of origin.
Lionel Escoffier is one of the ardent defenders of this culture.
“So all the grasses are in this style, so you have
cocksfoot, brome, wheatgrass. And then you have a part, we call it the heel
which is essentially composed of legumes, you also have wild carrot, there I don’t
see any… Oh yes, here is some wild carrot. Dandelion, plantain, in short,
these are all the species that make up the heel. So if you want this mixture of plants
provides both everything that is cellulose, therefore fibrolongue for the digestion
of animals, and then everything that is energy, proteins that is provided
by all the others therefore alfalfa, vetch, finally the legumes
essentially. So that makes it a very energy-rich hay too. »
Lionel is also a breeder. He owns a flock of nearly two thousand sheep.
Animals which particularly benefit from the richness of the pasture. If the Crau hay
is so generous, it is because it has taken advantage of a gift from the Durance
“dreeee ouéuéoéuéoéuéu. When we talk about Crau, the characteristic of
Crau. That’s it. The pebbles of Crau, so the Crau in fact which is the old bed of the Durance
so the pebbles were carried by the river. They have been polished by water so we see
that they are pebbles which are quite smooth. So the advantage of these stones is that they
provide… at the same time they aerate the soil, and then the main characteristic is that
the pebble captures the heat of the sun during the day and releases it at night. So that is to
say that we are used to saying that in Crau the grass grows as much during the day as at
night, or even more at night than during the day, and as a result the grass grows much faster. »
A herb that benefits from another advantage: the waters of the Durance brought
here by these small canals. This ingenious
16th century irrigation network made it possible to transform this desert into an agricultural plain.
“It is thanks to water that our land is so fertile. And what makes
this water so rich is that it comes from the Alps, you can see it is quite muddy
and it is loaded with silt, trace elements, these silts
once the water penetrates the soil, are deposited on the plot and this is what
brings all the minerals and vitamins to the meadow, the grass and the Crau hay.
Today, this hay brings happiness to racehorses, from the stud farms of Normandy to the
stables of the King of Morocco and the unexpected Sultan of Brunei : the Baux marsh.
This vast wetland is a reconquest. A few years ago,
intensive agriculture was encroaching on this natural area, and the use of fertilizers was threatening its biodiversity.
Recently, farmers have realized its value and have let
nature take over. Since then, the birds have returned by the thousands.
The marshes have become a refuge for swallows. At dusk, they gather
in the reed beds to nest.) This is the moment these
birdwatchers chose to deploy their nets and try to catch them.
“These are Japanese nets with very fine mesh that allow us to catch
birds without hurting them. They are about three meters high and 12 meters
long and are the most common technique for capturing passerines and small birds. ”
These volunteers from the A Rocha association regularly organize counts and for this, they have
a trick: they broadcast the cries of swallows. Within minutes, several
birds were trapped. But very quickly they are delivered.
“So actually there are several species. It is part of the insectivore family. These
are birds that therefore have a fairly fine beak. The particularity of this family is that when it
does, it will have a big mouth and it will hunt insects in flight. So they have
quite long wings. Which actually allow them to maneuver well in the air.
This species is not yet threatened. But we are seeing a huge decline. So
it’s really important to take an interest in this little bird which is making a
pretty fantastic crossing. It will travel up to 3,000 kilometers.
For the swallows, the Baux marsh is the last stop before the great
crossing of the Mediterranean and the Sahara. A site that these long-
distance travelers did not choose by chance. “We realized that she chose
certain specific habitats to feed on. Especially everything that is
Crau hay meadow. The vineyards, the orchards. There are also many orchards in the surrounding area. There are
vineyards not far away in the costières de Nîmes. And the fruits that are left during
the grape harvest or during the harvest rot, produce a lot of flies that the swallows
will eat and that is why we see so many of them and why they choose to gather here. »
At nightfall, the study program continues. “18 grams 6”
The swallows are measured, ringed, they even go through weighing!
And here again, volunteers have an amazing way to assess their physical health!
“We blow on their feathers to see the flesh and through transparency,
we can see patches of fat under the skin
and depending on the quantity of fat that we can observe
we give a score that goes from one to four. One means that they are not at all
fat and that they are very fat, that they have eaten well and
that they are ready to leave.” The 238 swallows studied by the team
will not be released until the following morning. At dawn, the swallows of
the reed bed wake up. It’s time to free the captives. They
will all disperse to feed for a few more days in the Alpilles.
They will stock up before the big trip to Central Africa and even,
for some, to South Africa! Return to the city of Arles. The Roman barge was taken
out of the water a year and a half ago. At the museum, expansion work has begun
because the ship is so large that a new exhibition hall needs to be built.
Only Claude Sintès, the director, can imagine the future location of the boat:
“Oh my, it’s grown a lot since last time. The boat will be installed in this way,
that is to say that you will have the bow there, then the boat will develop over this whole
trench and will arrive at the back there, at the stern, and we also found the mast of the
boat and so we will have to install the mast on the boat of course and be able to
give the public an understanding of what a boat really was in antiquity. ”
At the time of its sinking in the Rhône, the barge was transporting stones which were to be
used in the construction of Roman villas. It is with its cargo and all the objects
belonging to its sailors that it will be presented in the new wing of the museum.
But the boat’s restoration is far from complete.
In Grenoble, this restaurateur is preparing to use extraordinary means
: techniques from the nuclear industry. “Here we are in the irradiation cell.
These are the elements of the mast of the Arles barge. And so these elements were impregnated with a
liquid resin and we are going to harden this resin using radioactive sources, cobalt
60 sources? It is this radiation which will cause the hardening, the polymerization of the resin. ”
The mast is installed in a watertight blockhouse whose walls and door are 1.5 meters
thick. Once the door is closed, the radioactive rods located
in this pool can rise. The irradiation will last 48 hours.
“It is a technique that works very well to truly consolidate, to have
a very great solidity at the level of the objects. This is the case of the Arles mast which is
very fragile and which had to be consolidated with this technique. ”
In the neighboring hangar, the work of reassembling the boat is in progress. The barge is to be
presented at the Arles museum in just six months. Using the yellow labels,
the archaeologist-restorers reconstruct the giant puzzle and each
piece of wood returns to its original place. Sabrina, the archaeologist in charge of the
project, came to see the progress of the work: “It’s a real painstaking job that you’re doing
on the restoration, it’s moving quickly, but there’s still a lot of work to do, it’s enormous. »
« We are on a knife edge. Basically, we have half of the wreck in front of us since we
have about five sections being assembled, so we can say that we are in the middle of the ford.
There is still a lot of work to do to put the sides in place, and then to fix all
the partitions that protect the inside of the boat’s hull. »
« I still don’t have that vision of the 31 meters.
Even though I know the boat well, and we’ve finished the 3D rendering work,
I still have trouble projecting it in reality. » « It will only be in the museum in
September, when we bring the last sections that we will all be able to see
the reconstructed boat at the last moment » « It will be a strong moment, yes…. »
At the museum, the exhibition of the Gallo-Roman boat is being prepared.
The most emblematic objects are being restored.
Ethel is taking care of the excavation’s mascot: this little ceramic dog.
“It’s a jug with an original shape, with the spout here in the dog’s mouth.
The handle is designed to be able to pour like that, then the flat base allows it to be placed and
normally at the end of the restoration it will stand upright and we can present it vertically.
Between gluing, samples and restoration there is no shortage of work.
“- ah but that’s great, Oliva Practa! » For David, in charge of ceramics,
every day brings a new enigma. He has just discovered an unknown inscription…
“That’s the problem with painted inscriptions, we’re happy
to have them and when we have them, sometimes we don’t know what they are! ”
Some mysteries have been solved. David was able to identify the strange face of
this large vase taken from the waters of the river. This is a very
rare representation of Sabasios, a Roman God. “It’s true that we asked ourselves a lot of questions
when we discovered it, we didn’t know if it was a bearded jellyfish with snakes, it
wasn’t consistent and since then we have found two vases very similar to ours, in Pompeii, in
the house of magical cults. It turns out that this character is most often represented
with snakes, depicted bearded, so our hypotheses converge towards this cult of Sabasios.
Afterwards, it is important to understand that it is a functional object which was used to mix wine
with water… for prestigious banquets, ice could even be brought in to
mix it. It was an object that was used for that. » One after the other, the hundreds of
ceramics brought up by the divers passed into the hands of the restorers.
At the museum, they will join the famous statues already taken from the
Rhône: Augustus, Caesar and Neptune. These Roman figures are now witnessing
the reassembly of the last section of the boat. It is September 2013.
The time for the inauguration is approaching. Packaged like a masterpiece, the
ship’s prow makes its entrance into the museum! Under the eye of Claude Sintès, the
museum director, the Roman barge is revealed in its entirety for the first time.
“It seems quite simple that the colleagues from nuclear art are installing a piece of the
prow as is the case, it seems quite simple, but for us it is a very strong emotion because we
know all the work and anxiety that it represents . We know what it means in terms
of organization and all that. So the smallest board, this piece of board does
n’t represent much, a few dozen kilos, but it’s an enormous weight behind it, of emotions
for all of us, for the whole team, and we hope now for our public” “-
We have to pivot like that a little. We’ll block it and go ahead. So ! »
« Seeing a boat like this means you immediately imagine the people who were on that boat,
you imagine the people who are pulling that boat, who are slaves, those who
are putting the stones on board, or unloading them and all of that is immediately
perceptible, everyone sees it in a second » Last days of work and final touches.
450 objects that tell the story of life in the port of Arles in the first century AD join
the display cases in the new museum room. And the excavation mascot, now
fully restored, finds pride of place. It is October 4, 2013,
just hours before the inauguration. Presented in a 35-meter-long pit, the barge seems ready to cast off
and continue its navigation on the river. As at the time of its
sinking, everything is in place. The kitchen has been reinstalled at the rear, with its
brazier, dishes and the sailors’ tools. On board, nothing is missing, not
even the tow mast… …..which makes this wreck unique in the world.
“When we searched this wreck in 2008, we did n’t know it was complete and we didn’t know
it would hold so many surprises for us. When we discovered the tow mast, we
said to ourselves, we’re so lucky! we have everything! It’s a beautiful story and a
real piece of our lives, we don’t come out of it unscathed, let’s say.”
6 p.m., the crowd that has gathered in front of the museum doors impatiently approaches
the new exhibition hall. “- Not too nervous?
*A little bit * The beating heart »
The people of Arles are there and are rushing to see the new star.
Jean Marc Bernard and Otello Badan did not want to miss the event:
“Magnificent, magnificent, it’s an exceptional piece!” Absolutely !
* Director: Did you imagine something like that?
* Otello: Not so gigantic. I thought the small
flat bottom boats were smaller than this. There it is something 30 meters long like that ”
“As soon as you are on the side of the bow or the stern there it is impressive the state
of preservation you can read everything it is extraordinary I am enthusiastic ”
And among the crowd, the team of divers discovers the Roman barge for the
first time, two years after its rescue ” It is ….. There are no words
to describe it it is too beautiful what, it is an honor to be there
and to have participated in the raising, in the excavations, I have no words. »
« We got this boat out, we imagined how to get it out, you have to imagine this boat
that it was 3, 4 meters under the ground with a list, with 900m3 of earth above and that we
went to get it and well there it reminds us, the thousands of hours, there are 4000 hours of work
in diving to get it out and there, there it is to see the culmination of an incredible work which
will be I think for the divers who worked on this operation, one of our most
beautiful projects and for me who directed it, obviously it is a huge satisfaction. »
« The boat is getting away from you a little from that moment on?
From then on it entered the domain of heritage, it is no longer ours, it belongs
to the public, we know that we do this job for that, to give back to the public, and it is really
with great joy to see many people come to admire this boat”
After 2000 years spent in the water, the barge of the Rhône has been
classified as a “national treasure”.

Pendant deux ans, Stéphane Bégoin a suivi l’aventure de Sabrina Marlier. En compagnie de son équipe d’archéologues et de restaurateurs, elle a oeuvré pour sortir des eaux du Rhône la plus grande barge antique jamais renflouée.

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La ville d’Arles compte aussi des joyaux d’architecture médiévale, comme l’ancienne cathédrale Saint-Trophime. Depuis quelques années, la ville a également lancé l’un des plus vastes inventaires du patrimoine, à la recherche de vestiges du Moyen Age. Plus loin, dans les Alpilles, Cyril Dumas, conservateur et amateur d’alpinisme, s’attache à découvrir les traces d’occupation humaine. En face des Baux-de-Provence, Pascal Bourgier, quant à lui, exploite la carrière de Sarragan.

“Le pays d’Arles”
Un documentaire de la collection Des Racines et des Ailes, écrit et réalisé par Stéphane Bégoin.
© ECLECTIC PRODUCTION
Tout droits réservés – AMP

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