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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Stayed viaduct, also known as the Fontpédrouse bridge, is a major railway structure designed for the Cerdagne line, connecting Villefranche-de-Conflent to Bourg-Madame. Built between 1906 and 1908 under the direction of engineer Paul Séjourné, it crossed Tet and Route 116. This two-storey bridge, 236.70 metres long, is distinguished by its bold architecture: a large central ogival arch 30 metres wide, surmounted by an apron supporting the railway, all framed by crenellated square piles. It was inaugurated on 18 July 1910 with the commissioning of the "Yellow Train", an electrified metric line, symbol of the opening of the Catalan Pyrenees.

The work, made in masonry, incorporates defensive elements such as mining chambers at the top of the batteries, accessible from the track. Its structure combines functionality and aesthetics, with arches in full hang for approach viaducts and decorative elegance. The viaduct is part of a larger project led by engineer Jules Lax for the Compagnie des chemins de fer du Midi, aimed at connecting the plain of Roussillon with the high plateaus cerdans. Ranked a Historical Monument in 1994, it embodies the French engineering of the early twentieth century and remains a symbol of Catalan industrial heritage.

In local culture, the viaduct inspired literary works, such as Gérard Raynal's Le Pont des illusions (2012), which Romanized its construction. Its role in regional history goes beyond the technical framework: it has facilitated economic and human exchanges between France and Spain via the Cerdagne, while becoming a visual landmark of the Pyrenean landscape. Today, it attracts as much for its architecture as for its integration into the tourist journey of the "Yellow Train", classified at UNESCO as the Cultural Landscapes of the Railway.

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