- The Var Chamber of Agriculture organizes training days on the manufacture and maintenance of dry stone walls with the AOC Bandol winegrowers in the Var.
- Scientific work has made it possible to classify this ancestral know-how as an intangible heritage of Unesco.
- The dry stone walls still play an essential role today in land use planning and water management.
The sun bangs on the Var hills as much as the winemakers knock on their stones. They are a dozen to carefully apply the know-how of their two trainers, on dry stone walls - built walls without binder, without cement, and without reinforcement - on this plot of vines in terraces of the Bunan domain, a domain from the AOC Bandol, in the Var.
Philippe Bunan, a young winemaker, wanted to organize a few days of training for AOC winemakers on the construction and renovation of dry stone walls. This ancestral know-how has shaped the Var landscape through agriculture.It has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site since November 2018, whereas today the terraces are mainly used for growing vines and olives.
“Many winegrowers were not interested in this know-how at a conference. I approached the chamber of agriculture to organize training on this knowledge that is lost. I want this heritage to continue, and there is a real need to renovate the restanques because many are crumbling, ”explains Philippe Bunan.
The complexity of a dry stone wall
On this sunny Wednesday morning, the ten or so winegrowers and farm workers helped by their two trainers, Olivier Lenormand and Albert Porri, are busy cutting the crown stones, those that come at the very top of the wall. But it had to go through many other stages. “There are three key words to follow: maximum contact between the stones so that they are properly set; crossings between the joints, and 3D crossings, that is to say both in height and in the depth of the wall, ”explains Olivier Lenormand.
If the aesthetics of the wall is seen from the front, it should not be forgotten that a dry stone wall is deep. "Behind the facing stones are the filling stones, but above all the drainage stones because the dry stone walls are great tools for water management", explains Albert Porri.
Great water management tools, in a department that has experienced very violent floods in recent months, while the soils are hyper-waterproofed with urbanization. “The terraces make it possible to slow down the flow of water, which is gradually evacuated through the dry stone wall through the drainage stones. The dry stone walls also allow moisture to be kept deep for the plants that grow on the terraces, ”adds the specialist.
Scientific contribution
Contemporary applications while the know-how of dry stone walls has almost disappeared. “Many men died during the First World War, there was a real shortage of manpower to build and maintain these walls. This was also the case during the Second World War, and the appearance of mechanization and cultivation on ever larger grounds had a strong impact on this know-how. It is Claire Cornu, an architect and urban planner who has brought people together around dry stone construction. Thanks to this the national school of public works of the State became interested in the modeling of these walls. A thesis has been published on this subject, The guide to good practices in dry stone support constructions , ”recounts Albert Porri.
A guide that has become the bible of professionals in the sector. "There are several parameters to take into account, the nature of the soil, the height of the wall, the nature of the stone and the fruit, that is to say its inclination because a dry stone wall is always inclined to support field. Thanks to an abacus, this modeling, we obtain the necessary depth of the wall. If it is not enough, then it will collapse, ”tries to popularize Albert Porri.
And it is thus, thanks to all this scientific work and the will of a few people, that the know-how of building a dry stone wall was inscribed on the intangible heritage of Unesco in 2018. A know-how that has knew how to prove itself over time. “The support of the old road from Faron to Toulon was made in 1850 with dry stones. When the 35-ton tanks used it during the Second World War, it did not move, ”smiles Albert Porri.
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