habitat rupestre.pdf - Società Friulana di Archeologia

E. Crescenzi, M. C. Ménardsince the 12th century, have been used for a range of differentactivities. These include quarries, cellars, habitat, etc. However,most of these cavities have been abandoned since the endof the 19th century. By claiming the designation of inhabitedhillside, Turquant wants to appropriate and enhance this heritage.To this end, it expects to receive symbolic national andinternational recognition as a model for the rehabilitation ofcave-dwellings. In other words, the village wishes to see itselfas a pilot operation.1. The general contextAt the end of the 20th century, the municipal team launchedthe idea of creating a troglodytic arts and crafts village. Theintention was that the village should base itself on this importantand specific heritage - largely abandoned and in verybad condition - to reinforce its identity through the means ofprotection and enhancement. Located in the heart of the LoireAnjou Touraine regional park, this village, within the touristcontext and considerable attractiveness of the Loire chateaux- an importance recently reinforced by the listing of the Loirevalley as a UNESCO World Heritage site - expects that thisproject will contribute to an economic recovery and a greatervisibility. The intention is that this measure should contributeto making this modest troglodytic heritage better known byassociating it with the tourism generated by the chateaux.2. The troglodytic arts and crafts village: preliminarystudies and worksThis operation (innovative due to the troglodytic aspect) mobilisedthe efforts of a number of parties: architectural studentsfrom Nantes who were asked in 1999 to sketch out andtest the validity of such an operation by carrying out a fieldstudy, and a consultancy firm - Ambroise - that carried out afeasibility study in 2003. The municipal team studied arts andcrafts villages in France to assess the feasibility and financingof such an operation.The mayor, also the Maine et Loire General Counsel, workedwith his municipal team to prepare a dossier requesting the aidand subsidies needed for the operation. This was then submittedto local, departmental, regional and European institutionalbodies. The subsidies obtained represented between €2.6 and€3 million for the entire project.This budget allowed the municipality to buy a number of thehillside cave-dwellings that risked irreparable damage as wellas those that were potentially best subject to enhancement duetheir highly visible locations. These were grouped together in2005 and 2006 to carry out studies and the necessary works:burial of the electricity network, ensuring the safety of thehillside, layout of the Rue du Château Gaillard alongside thetroglodytic hillside and its lighting in 2008, fitting out of thecellars for professional use from 2008 to 2009, as well as thefitting out of the troglodytic arts and crafts spaces within thevillage in 2009.Fig. 7 Turquant hillside général vue from the valley.Fig. 8 Turquant hillside: art and craft troglodytisme village from the outdoorescalator.Fig. 9 Turquant hillside le bistrotroglo from the level of street Chateaugaillard.Fig. 10 Inside of the art craft workshop: the glass blower.3. Inside the troglodytic arts and crafts villageThe first workshops opened in 2009 with craftsmen and womenhaving submitted their projects to a national call for bidsfor arts and crafts related to stone, metal, earth, glass, mosaicsand fire. The chosen craftsmen and women lease their spacefrom the municipality and each is responsible for organising135volumeRicerca_OK_2012-11-15.indd 135 16/11/2012 15:02:17