Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The rotunda de la Vignotte, located at Mont-de-Marsan in the Landes, was designed in 1809 by engineer David-François Panay for the Landes Society of Agriculture, Science, Literature and Arts. This neoclassical project, inspired by prefect Jean-Marie Valentin-Duplantier, was to house a circular room under dome and cabinets for the Society's activities. The land, initially an arid sand bank planted with vines, was offered by Napoleon I through the decree of Bayonne (12 July 1808) after the intercession of the prefect during his passage in 1808.

The work, co-financed by the Prefect and the General Council of the Landes, began in 1810 but was interrupted in 1813 due to lack of funds and political unrest (fall of the First Empire, English occupation in 1814). The interior, designed to accommodate sessions and a library, was never built. The project was definitely postponed in 1822, leaving the rotunda unfinished. Between 1822 and 1860, the site was rented to industrialists such as Étienne Dive, who installed a resin distillation laboratory.

In the 19th century, the rotunda became a versatile place: sawmills, mills, forges, and then milling after its acquisition by Joseph Lapelle-Lateulère in 1912, which built the Villa Mirasol. Ranked a historic monument in 1986, it opened exceptionally to the public in 2016 for an exhibition. Its architecture, marked by a doric porch and a pediment, makes it a rare testimony to the physiocratic ambitions of the Napoleonic era.

The name Vignette comes from the wine-growing gascon (small vine), recalling the wine-growing origin of the site. The rotunda, originally conceived as a gazebo on the port of Mont-de-Marsan, also illustrates the economic changes of the Landes, from experimental agriculture to industrialization (moulins, blast furnace). Its history reflects tensions between cultural projects and local economic realities.

External links