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The Cachot de Cyparis is a vaulted stone cell located in the eastern part of the ruins of the prison of Saint-Pierre, Martinique. Built in the mid-17th century, this rectangular dungeon, with a solid wooden door and a small grilled bay, stands out for its unique historical role. He became famous for protecting Louis-Auguste Cyparis, says Samson, during the catastrophic eruption of Pelee Mountain on May 8, 1902, which destroyed the city and killed nearly 30,000 people.

Louis-Auguste Cyparis, a native of the Preacher, was a sailor and farmer sentenced to one month in prison for hurting a man in a quarrel. After escaping for a party and then going back, he was locked in that dungeon for eight days. The eruption occurred during his imprisonment: the thickness of the walls, the orientation of the openings opposite the burning cloud, and his position near the Morne Abel protected him from the burning gases and destructive breath. He survived alone, hearing the cries of the other prisoners die in a few minutes, before an absolute silence settled.

Cyparis was rescued three days later by the inhabitants of Morne-Rouge, who heard his calls. His survival, due to exceptional circumstances, made him famous. He then became an attraction of the Barnum circus in the United States, exhibiting the scars of his burns. He is said to have died forgotten in Panama, probably in misery. The cachot, a symbol of this tragedy, was inscribed in historical monuments on 25 July 1979, thus preserving the memory of one of the worst natural disasters in French history.

The structure, rectangular, stands at the bottom of a courtyard near a basin, in the enclosure of the old prison. Its arched stone construction, typical of the cachots of the time, and its relative isolation from the moment of eruption explain why Cyparis escaped. Today, the site attracts visitors for its link to this major historical event, illustrating both the violence of nature and human fragility.

The eruption of 1902 marked Martinique deeply, destroying Saint-Pierre, then nicknamed the "Petit Paris des Antilles" for its cultural and economic prosperity. Cyparis' dungeon, by its association with this unique survivor, embodies the collective memory of this catastrophe. Its inscription as a historic monument underlines its historic and architectural importance in the history of the region and of overseas France.

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