The superb landscapes of the Millevaches plateau seem unchanging, with their countless rivers, lakes, peat bogs, and coniferous forests. However, man has radically modified them over the last century and they are still continually evolving. Let's find out more about this landscape, where art and nature are combined in splendor.
Landscapes shaped by people
The Millevaches plateau is a granite area, located between 1,650 to 3,000 feet (500 to 900 m) above sea level. It extends over the departments of Corrèze, Haute-Vienne and Creuse. According to legend, a shepherdess made a pact with the devil to save herself from a terrible storm and saw her cows transformed, one by one, into granite blocks across the plateau, giving it the name of Millevaches (a thousand cows). There are, however, two less poetic etymological explanations. The first is that the name comes from melo vacua (desert environment), or from mille batz (a thousand sources). There were no herds of cows grazing on the arid landscape of Millevaches and the moorland was inhabited by sheep.
Paysages de SenoueixFondation du patrimoine
Up until the end of the 19th century, the plateau of Millevaches was covered with moorland, punctuated with rare forests of deciduous trees.
Sheep were bred extensively there and used for their wool.
Paysages de SenoueixFondation du patrimoine
These moors of wind-beaten heather are very barren territories.
On days when the weather was fine, the men would leave to make money in other ways elsewhere, as masons, shoemakers or travelling wine merchants.
It was therefore the women who guarded the land.
Sommet du Mont AudouzeFondation du patrimoine
Forestry exploitation began at the start of the 20th century. Huge coniferous forests were planted across the whole plateau.
The forest growers, who often came from elsewhere, planted Spruce and Douglas fir trees that were widely used in the construction industry and they made themselves a fortune.
The landscape of the plateau had previously been wide open but it rapidly became enclosed as a result of the forest plantings.
Only a few clearings punctuated the forested land.
Here is the landscape of Mount Audouze, one of the highest points on the plateau.
Tourbière de LongeyrouxFondation du patrimoine
The plateau also has many peat bogs, which the inhabitants used for heating for a long time before the forests were planted.
These natural spaces are a wet, cold, acidic, and oxygen-free environment, in which plants, especially sphagnum moss, fossilize rather than decompose.
This process is very slow: it takes a century to form just under half an inch of peat.
The Longeyroux peat bog is, at 618 acres (250 hectares), the largest in Limousin.
It began to form on an ancient pond, in a granite pit, from the 4th century BC. The multiple streams that cross it give rise to the Vézère river.
Médiation à la maison du Parc naturel régional de MillevachesFondation du patrimoine
The Regional Nature Park of Millevaches comprises 124 communes which work to preserve these varied environments.
The Maison du Parc, located in Millevaches, provides the public with information and helps them to understand these exceptional landscapes.
There are also information placards at key points of interest around the area.
La forêt du plateau de MillevachesFondation du patrimoine
Watch this video to find out more about the evolution of the landscapes of the Millevaches plateau.
A water story
As one of the possible etymologies of the name Millevaches indicates, this territory is dotted with numerous streams, ponds and lakes. Managing these resources is a major issue in the region, both in terms of agriculture and energy provision. This image depicts the landscape of the plateau of Millevaches in 1949, before Lake Vassivière was created.
Source n°1 de la VienneFondation du patrimoine
The Millevaches plateau is sometimes referred to as "the water tower of France" and it is indeed here that many French rivers begin, including the Vézère, the Creuse, the Corrèze, and the Vienne, shown in the photo.
Pont de SenoueixFondation du patrimoine
One of the most iconic and touristic sites of the Regional Nature Park is the bridge that crosses the Taurion, located in Sénoueix, in the Creuse region.
The locals refer to it as a Roman bridge but it actually appears to have been built in the 17th century.
Ancien étang de PeyrelevadeFondation du patrimoine
In the town of Peyrelevade, in 1986, a dam on the Vienne was built, allowing the creation of an artificial pond, mainly for leisure activities.
This pond, crossed by the Vienne, degraded the quality of the waters of the river, in particular by heating them.
In 1986, in the town of Peyrelevade, a dam was built on the Vienne river which created an artificial lake, mainly for the purpose of leisure activities.
This lake, intersected by the Vienne river, made the quality of the water poorer, mainly because it warmed it up.
Bief du Moulin du Bourg à Saint-Merd-les-OussinesFondation du patrimoine
As it was a threat to the environment, it was finally drained in 2019, enabling the quality and fauna of the Vienne river to be restored. The landscape has now returned to its original configuration but you can still make out the perimeter of where the artificial lake used to be.
The Moulin du Bourg Canal, in Saint-Merd-les-Oussines, is another example of how man has used the water. More than 2,952 feet (900 m) long, it brings water from the Vézère river to the mill.
Abandoned for nearly 30 years, it has now been reclaimed by nature. The canal has become a preferred breeding ground for brown trout and also for Littorella, a nationally protected amphibious plant, to grow.
Bief du Moulin du Bourg à Saint-Merd-les-OussinesFondation du patrimoine
A lack of maintenance of the canal banks has led to severe leaks that threaten this fragile ecosystem.
The Fondation du Patrimoine (Cultural Heritage Foundation) is helping to finance the restoration work of the Conservatoire d'Espaces Naturels du Limousin organization, who manage the site.
Loutre emblème du Parc naturel régional de MillevachesFondation du patrimoine
This work, undertaken in the fall of 2020, succeeded in saving a peat bog that was being flooded by the canal waters that were pouring into it. It also became a habitat for European otters to live, the animal that symbolizes the Millevaches Regional Nature Park.
Le lac de VassivièreFondation du patrimoine
The Vassivière Lake also represents man's development of the Millevaches plateau.
It is one of France's largest artificial lakes, spanning a surface area of 1,000 hectares. It was borne out of the creation of an EDF hydraulic dam, in the middle of the 20th century.
Located in a basin formed by the meandering tributaries of the Maulde river, it is formed of a landscape of islands and creeks that have earned it the nickname Little Canada.
Vassivière, l’évolution d’un paysageFondation du patrimoine
Watch this video to find out more about the Vassivière lake.
From nature to art
The Millevaches plateau is inhabited today by people who wish to preserve, but also enhance, the territory, in particular through art. The island of Vassivière, in the heart of the Vassivière lake, is home to the International Center of Art and Landscape (Centre International d'art et du Paysage), which invites artists to create sculptures that work in harmony with the environment. This Andy Goldsworthy work exploring the boundary between wood and lake is an example of this. It is submerged to varying degrees, depending on the water level of the lake.
Art contemporain à EymoutiersFondation du patrimoine
Eymoutiers, in the Haute-Vienne, is the gateway to the Millevaches Regional Nature Park. A municipality with a cultural tradition, it commissioned the artist Christian Lapie to create a series of sculptures entitled L'infini Suspendu (Suspended Infinity): fifteen standing men who have been watching over the city since 2013.
Musée Rebeyrolles à EymoutiersFondation du patrimoine
Eymoutiers is the birth town of the artist Paul Rebeyrolle. In homage to his local roots, a space has been dedicated to him since 1995.
This 1,000 sqm art center houses a permanent collection of more than 80 works showcasing the work of the artist, who was inspired by the landscapes of the region.
Exposition dans la maison des moines de TarnacFondation du patrimoine
In Tarnac, in Corrèze, little old historical houses built in local granite, perhaps belonging to the former priory, have been restored.
They have been transformed into exhibition spaces through the Town Hall initiative and with support from the Fondation du Patrimoine (Cultural Heritage Foundation).
We would like to thank Gilles Despeyroux from the Regional Nature Park of Millevaches, François Bourroux, Mayor of Tarnac, Béatrice Faury from Creuse Tourism, Carine Pauliac from the Regional Committee of Tourism in Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Sébastien Massy from the Lac de Vassivière for their welcome and their valuable help in creating this content.
To support the work of the Fondation du Patrimoine (Cultural Heritage Foundation), please click on this link: https://www.fondation-patrimoine.org/
