I raccard di Valmignanaz

On the sunlit hillside below the Col de Joux, the hamlet of Valmignanaz keeps its raccards: raised granaries of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, built with central threshing areas by carpenters whose work spanned both sides of the pass. Together with Lérinon and the abandoned Crétamignanaz, it belongs to a group of hillside settlements reflecting three centuries of rural history.

Why it matters

Raccards are the signature rural building of the French-speaking Alps — grain stores lifted clear of damp and rodents on stone or mushroom-shaped supports — and Valmignanaz holds one of the more complete groups near a valley-floor town. The group's craftsmanship is notable: in the 1600s and early 1700s the same carpenters worked on both slopes of the Col de Joux, so these granaries belong to the same tradition as those of the Ayas valley, and the families on both sides kept ties of marriage and work. The site is a readable record of a cereal-growing economy that has otherwise vanished from this hillside.

What to notice

The group includes a central open threshing area, overhanging granary volumes that ventilated stores, and stone caps raised above a two- or three-storey stone house combining stable, living quarters and storage. The same carpenters worked on both slopes of the Col de Joux, linking Valmignanaz with the building tradition of the Ayas valley. The setting matters too — these are hillside villages where nearby plots were farmed for cereals and hay, at an altitude where every sheaf stored dry meant survival through the winter.

Context and history

The raccards of Valmignanaz were built mainly in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, within a shared cultural area that joined the two sides of the Col de Joux: families maintained ties across the pass, and houses — whether of stone or wood — followed one building culture rather than two. The raccard type itself is widespread through the Arpitan Alpine arc, from Savoy to French-speaking Switzerland, always solving the same problem: keeping grain dry and safe from rodents in a climate of heavy snow. The neighbouring settlements of Lérinon, with its bread oven and stone houses, and abandoned Crétamignanaz complement Valmignanaz in the hillside's varied settlement history.